Chronicle Editor
Harare Bureau
MANY yesterday engaged in activities across Zimbabwe to mark the Robert Gabriel Mugabe National Youth Day, a public holiday set aside to celebrate the contribution of young people to political and socio-economic development.
February 21 was proclaimed a holiday in 2017 in recognition of the works of the late founding President Robert Mugabe.
The commemorations were held at designated youth interactive centres and were aimed at unveiling Government’s empowerment programmes and providing a platform for youth to showcase their diverse talents.
The day provided an opportunity for youths in arts and sport to interact with experienced mentors.
The main celebrations were at Mufakose Cultural Centre with Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Minister Kirsty Coventry as the guest of honour.
Youths who attended engaged in music, sports and traditional dance while some companies also took advantage of the day to exhibit their services and products, which were mainly targeted for the youths.
In an interview, Minister Coventry reiterated that the commemorations were held to celebrate the immense contribution of the youth. “Today is most important because we want to recognise young people for their courage, for what they have been trying to do and for what they are trying to do and to recognise that young people are going to lead us into our future and we need to stop talking and we need to be more active.
“And the reason we chose to come to Mufakose is there are programmes like this happening all across our 10 provinces,” she said.
She said they were upgrading the centre in Mufakose by adding another multi-purpose court, a hand ball court and some buildings.
“The goal is to try and resuscitate 40 of these centres across the country by the end of the year. We want these community centres to become the heartbeat of the community and we want to see activities like this on a weekly basis. We are also going to put in some computers and we are going to run different courses. We also want the young people from the community to help manage these centres,” Minister Coventry said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Youth, Arts, Sport and Recreation Deputy Minister Tino Machakaire said as Government they will continue to support and work with all the youths countrywide.
“Today (yesterday) as you can see, we saw a lot of talents and various activities and as Government we will continue supporting and working with the youths on developmental issues.
“Some of these activities will help them to stay away from drugs and other nefarious activities,” he said.
Online Reporter