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George Maponga in Masvingo

First time voters drawn from all the country’s 10 administrative provinces will today have an opportunity to interact with President Mnangagwa during an interface at Mucheke Stadium in Masvingo today where the Head of State and Government is expected to outline various programmes initiated by the Second Republic to economically empower them and pivot Zimbabwe towards Vision 2030.

Thousands of first time voters, mostly youths, are expected to dominate the audience that will be addressed by President Mnangagwa in yet another testament of how much the Second Republic values youths as a key constituency in driving the country’s national development agenda.

President Mnangagwa will descend at Mucheke at a time when Masvingo has recorded arguably the highest number of first time voters countrywide with an estimated over 800 000 having been registered by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in the province.

The interface today comes as youths around Zimbabwe have been benefiting from various empowerment programmes initiated by the Second Republic especially in spheres such as mining and agriculture.

Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira yesterday said today’s interface meeting sets the tone to further consolidate strides made in the empowerment of young people as Zimbabwe gravitates towards Vision 2030.

‘’First time voters from all corners of the country, who are predominantly youths, will be coming to Masvingo for an interface meeting with President Mnangagwa tomorrow(today) where the Head of State and Government will use the opportunity to speak about various programmes that have been rolled out by the Second Republic to economically empower our youths,’’said Minister Chadzamira.

‘’Masvingo was chosen to host the interface because the province recorded the highest number of first time voters and its an honour for us as a province that we will be hosting the President tomorrow(today).’’

Minister Chadzamira said Masvingo youths benefited immensely from programmes initiated by President Mnangagwa’s administration saying many young people were beneficiaries of various empowerment schemes initiated by the Second Republic particularly in sectors such as mining, agriculture and tourism.

The Minister said Government programmes under the Transitional Stabilisation Programme(TSP) and National Development Strategy 1(NDS 1) had seen most youths in Masvingo province befitting via direct employment or getting contracts that earned them income which is in line with the ‘’leaving no one and no place’’ philosophy being championed by President Mnangagwa.

The Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister said in Masvingo youths had benefitted from fishing co-operatives at Tugwi-Mukosi Dam in Chivi while the ongoing dualisation of the Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway and other road rehabilitation and construction projects had created jobs around the province.

‘’In the sphere of infrastructural development in Masvingo most devolution funded projects like construction of schools and clinics including roads among them the signature Harare-Masvingo-Beitbridge highway created direct jobs for our young people and as a province we are grateful to President Mnangagwa for this,’’said Minister Chadzamira.

In the area of agriculture, Minister Chadzamira said youths had been allocated land for farming as Zimbabwe angles to attain food self-sufficiency.

The Minister said the US$300 million takeover of Bikita Minerals by Sinomine had also created hundreds of jobs for Masvingo youths.

‘’Mining is a key leg of the Masvingo provincial economy that has immensely benefited our youths and we are happy that a new chrome smelting plant built in Mashava will directly banefit our young people who will be able to value add their chrome and also sell it to earn income, such multi-million dollar projects are making huge impressions in the lives of our young people,’’said Minister Chadzamira.

The impending expansion of the SIMBI steel plant in the Masvingo industrial area, said Minister Chadzamira, would also create direct jobs for Masvingo youths and President Mnangagwa’s policies of promoting investment under the ‘’leaving no one and no place behind philosophy were supposed to be applauded.