adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
HUNDREDS of Youth Development Fund beneficiaries face arrest for failing to pay back loans received under the scheme. CABS and CBZ, who bankrolled the funding facility to youth empowerment projects two years ago, are now demanding back their money.The financial institutions, sources said, have started sending final reminders to defaulting youths before taking legal action.
Bulawayo Youth Development provincial head in the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment, Ophas Dube, confirmed his office had received 46 letters sent to defaulting youths in the province.
Dube said the number could be higher as some of the letters were sent directly to the defaulters.
“A lot of youths that benefited from the youth fund have not paid back the money they borrowed from CBZ and CABS,” he said.
“The banks have since started sending reminders to the youths who are not up to date on the payment of the loans.”
Dube added: “I do not have the exact number of Bulawayo youths who defaulted and the amount of money they owe the banks because some letters were sent directly to the beneficiaries. Our office, however, has received 13 letters from CABS and 33 letters from CBZ, which we have since delivered to the youths.”
Dube could not be drawn to comment on the implications of failure to pay back the loans saying the government would encourage them to pay.
He attributed the high default rate to the youths’ lack of business appreciation.
“I cannot really tell what would happen to the youths if they fail to honour their debts. As the government, we will make an effort to make them pay,” Dube said. “We do not intend to harass anybody. I am glad that some of them are cooperating. The reason why we are having this problem is that most of the youths are not business minded. Although we offer training programmes to assist them in running their businesses, a majority of them have no appreciation of business principles.”
Dube, however, said some youth projects were underfunded by banks forcing youths to abandon them and eventually fail to account for the money.
A CBZ official in charge of loans Wellington Benyera said the bank had handed over the names of defaulting youths to the government.
“There are many youths who have not paid back their loans to the bank. We have handed their names to the ministry to follow up and push them to pay,” he said.
An official from CABS, identified as Magumise, declined to comment. Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Deputy Minister Mathias Tongofa is on record saying 398,088 youth projects were approved for funding to the tune of $5,517,233.
Online Reporter