admin
Africa Moyo
Deputy News Editor
The third SADC Youth Parliament yesterday appointed seven mentors from across the region, with a Zimbabwean, Mr Sheuneni Kurasha, being selected chief mentor.
His appointment comes as three other Zimbabweans, Mr Bright Chimedza, Ms Fundile Nkala and Ms Christabel Mhiribidi, were also selected into the SADC Youth Parliament. Ms Mhiribidi is the clerk.
Mr Kurasha is already the programme manager — democracy, governance and human rights at SADC Parliamentary Forum (SADC-PF).
Other mentors include Tanzanian legislator Neema Lugangira, Namibian legislator Patience Masua, Wits University lecturer Dr Keratiloe Mogotsi, Seychelles legislator Richard Marc Labrosse, Ms Shumirai Zihou from the Southern Africa Trust, and Ms Phendulile Zikalala, a former SAYoF co-chair and trade unionist from the Kingdom of Eswatini. The SADC Youth Parliament has 37 members.
The mentors appointed are seen as key in playing an important role in the development of young leaders in SADC, including sharing best practices drawn from their experiences, and best models on practical youth empowerment.
The SADC Youth Parliament mentors will serve as advisors for the young parliamentarians, nurture them, give guidance in their leadership journey, be the referral agent, be councillors, and motivate the young leaders to be transformative leaders at national, regional, and international levels.
They will also act as a liaison to the mentees on various leadership and developmental issues of mutual interest.
Some of the objectives of the SADC Youth Parliament Mentorship Programme are to engage and inspire young leaders in the SADC Youth Parliament to use their knowledge and experience to enhance national, and regional development; assist parliamentarians to enhance their leadership capacity to respond to various policy issues at the national, regional, and international levels, further improving their knowledge, reaching their full potential, and keeping them motivated; and create regional networks of youth leaders that are supported by experienced individuals, among others.
The SADC Youth Parliamentarians said they were glad to “have such people of high repute to complement our youth development journey in the region”.
“We believe that at the centre of every development strategy lies the strong partnerships among different structures, among them the experts, the leaders, and the youth,” they said in a statement.
In his acceptance speech, Mr Kurasha said he was humbled by the decision to appoint him as one of the mentors, and more importantly as the chief mentor.
“I pledge my commitment to leverage every opportunity to support young people and to mainstream the youth agenda across the SADC region, working alongside my fellow mentors,” said Mr Kurasha.
“When I consider youth issues, I am reminded of the words of Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo, the anti-apartheid politician and activist who served as president of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991, who said: ‘The children of any nation are its future. A country, a movement, a person that does not value its youth and children does not deserve its future.”
He added that he was elated that the current generation of young people across the SADC region have discovered its mission, the mission to unite and rally young people across the region and walk as a united front towards confronting the various challenges that they face individually and as a collective.
“Young people are leveraging social media and other ICT tools and have managed to revive strong bonds of solidarity among the youth, which are only comparable to the days of the liberation struggle when the entire region and the African continent worked as a collective and refused to be confined by colonially defined borders.
“Young people have evidently mobilised their agency and are not only actively participating in the public affairs of their respective countries and the region, but they are also leading in agenda-setting across different spheres through youth-led organisations such as SAYoF (the Southern Africa Youth Forum).”
“As the mentors, we commit to partner with youth people to strengthen their capacity and facilitate collaboration with the whole of society in co-creating solutions that prioritise the needs of young people. We will prioritise the reinvigoration of the agency of young people in public affairs and leverage their energies in the SADC Youth Parliament, to positively influence law and policy at national and regional level,” said Mr Kurasha.
Ultimately, he added, the Youth Parliament must serve as a vehicle that catalyses the opening of opportunities for meaningful participation by young people in the various sectors of the economy.
Mr Kurasha said there was a need to ensure accountability regarding youth policies in the various regional and international developmental frameworks, namely the SADC Vision 2050, the Africa Agenda 2063 and the UN Agenda 2030.
The SAYoF-SADC is a coordinating body and a regional platform for youth and youth organisations in SADC.
It works with the SADC Secretariat, and is a youth representative in the SADC-CNGO. SAYoF-SADC is founded based on the increasing demand by young people to be important players and stockholders in regional processes, proffer solidarity at national and regional level, participation in sustainable transformation and in the agenda set by SADC Heads of State, the SADC Secretariat, SADC organs among other regional and International stakeholders, using the Youth Development Model (YDM).
Online Reporter