HARARE – Opposition MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has urged Zimdancehall artistes to pen lyrics that encourage youths to register to vote in the key 2018 elections.
Youths constitute 68 percent of Zimbabwe’s eligible voters.
The long-time President Robert Mugabe rival also said social media must play a significant role in enticing the young to participate in the polls and crucially, in governance issues.
Delivering a Christmas message to his party’s Harare provincial structures on Wednesday, Tsvangirai said the only way the young generation can deal with
the dire poverty and unemployment they are face with is to register to vote Mugabe and his Zanu PF out of power.
“This is the challenge I give to the young people and to all Zimdancehall chanters. You must chant and tweet your way into a new Zimbabwe in a big way by urging each others to register to vote in millions,” he said.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), the past two general elections have recorded the lowest ever voter registration, with millions shying away from the polls and the young totally absent from the voters’ register.
The former prime minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU) urged youths to be fearless in demanding that the Mugabe administration be accountable to Zimbabweans by delivering on their 2013 election pledges.
Political analysts predict that the crunch 2018 elections will most likely be won by the party with policies that advance youths’ interests.
Tsvangirai warned that if youths choose not to be proactive in governance issues, a whole generation could be lost, “a generation that wants jobs but that is scared to demand them”.
“Remember this government promised to create 2,2 million jobs but has created 2,2 million struggling vendors instead,” he said.
“I urge all the young people to take part in the affairs of their country by registering to vote and determining their own future. This is the time when we expect dancehall musicians to create new lyrics that urge the youth to register and vote.”
“Let us brace for an even tougher 2017. Let us shake the foundations of this repression and come out in our millions to register to vote and on the actual voting day so that we can collectively and decisively determine our future,” Tsvangirai said.
-Dailynews
