Youth and Economic Development in Zimbabwe (original) (raw)
Post-independence transition in Zimbabwe witnessed a number of socioeconomic reforms under the rubric of black economic empowerment. The government adopted a number of economic empowerment policies in a bid to address structural socioeconomic gaps that were instituted by the colonial system. Notably, in 2008 the Indigenisation Economic Empowerment Act 14 of 2007 was adopted as an economic development policy to address the needs of the youth and this is administered by the Ministry of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. This paper therefore, seeks to investigate the extent to which the youth in Zimbabwe have benefited economically from the policy. It is the contention of this paper that since the inception of the indigenisation policy, the youth have not adequately benefitted from these policies. This study argues that continued marginalisation of the youth from the overall economic development of the country has reduced them to the level of instruments than real actors in matters that affects their welfare. The process of indigenisation has in fact remained the preserve of the political elite, thereby subjecting the youth to severe poverty. Methodologically, the study utilises a desktop research in gathering data. Theoretically, the study builds from the elite-model paradigm in order to unpack the methodologies being utilised in youth economic empowerment in Zimbabwe. The paper concludes that, despite targeting the youth as beneficiaries of the Youth and Development Programme in Zimbabwe, the political elite are still the beneficiaries and the youth are completely marginalised economically.
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