Zimpapers Logo

Tawanda Mangoma in Chikombedzi
The Zanu-PF Youth League has launched a provincial goat-rearing project that seeks to benefit ruling party youths and reduce unemployment in rural communities across Masvingo province.

Ruling party Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Lewis Matutu launched the potentially lucrative project in Chikombedzi last week and said its objective was to economically empower youths.

Cde Matutu challenged youths to register companies that will export goat products to the international market.

“The Youth League has seen it necessary to kick-start empowerment projects for the benefit of our rural youths who have been very loyal to the party,” he said.

“Here in Chikombedzi, we are starting the project with 100 she-goats, which will form the backbone of our breeding programme that seeks to produce hybrid goats that will give beneficiaries quality goat meat for the export market.

“Our goal is to produce as many goats as we can within a short period of time because we want to be a major goat meat producer.”

Cde Matutu indicated that he had met with Tongaat Hulett management and requested that party youths be allocated a quota of all supplies to the firm.

The move, he said, was aimed at empowering young people across the Lowveld, most of whom were unemployed.

“We met with the Tongaat management to share notes on what could be done to help youths in the Lowveld,” said Cde Matutu.

“We agreed on a number of interventions that could be adopted to empower youths here, one of which was reserving a quota for youths to provide supplies to the company.”

Cde Matutu challenged youths to set up and register their own companies to prepare them for various economic opportunities that will emerge under the Second Republic.

“We also looked at why sugar is being sold at different prices across the country,” he said.

“We also wanted to understand why there are shortages of the commodity in some towns, yet it is locally produced.

“Youths should register their own companies to bid for contracts and make money. We cannot use slogans to bid for contracts. We must be a generation of thinkers and developers who think beyond today.

“We must have documentation so that when we visit a company we will present adequate paperwork rather than merely talking.”

Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial youth chairman Cde Brian Munyoro and other senior official of the Youth League attended the launch.