Parliamentary committee recommends closing youth militia camps
By Lance Guma
27 August 2007.

A parliamentary committee chaired by Zanu PF’s Gutu South MP Shuvai Mahofa, has recommended the closure of youth militia training centres because there is not enough food to feed recruits. A damning report presented to parliament last Thursday described conditions as appalling with both the diet and living quarters at the camps not meeting standards suitable for human habitation. MDC Member of Parliament for Mkoba, Amos Chibaya, was part of the committee on Youth, Gender and Women’s Affairs that went on a national tour of the centres. He said trainees are eating porridge without sugar, while ‘lunch was always sadza and beans or vegetables without cooking oil.’

Guyu National Youth Service Centre for example is said to have no doors or windows and students regularly run into snakes getting cosy inside the buildings. Female recruits are being denied sanitary wear and only the visit by the parliamentary committee prompted authorities to supply pads two weeks before the visit. The Kaguvi training centre meanwhile is also said to be unhygienic with sadza cooked there turning to a brownish-greyish colour instead of white. The kitchen is heavily infested with cockroaches and very dirty. One student broke his arm in a fight for food at the centre, highlighting the desperate plight of the trainees.

The report confirmed long held fears the camps were meant to produce a militia whose mandate was violence against the opposition after it found that most lecturers and trainers had a military background. The committee recommended the introduction of civilians, social workers, counsellors and teachers into the training staff, arguing this would add diversity to the programme. The trainees are subjected to rigorous exercises and drills raising further questions on why a ‘national youth training’ centre would resemble a military facility. Chibaya meanwhile said some of the recruits admitted they were being brainwashed to beat up their own parents and relatives if they ever supported the opposition.

Mugabe’s regime has used the centres as a pool for recruiting ‘loyal’ members of the police, army and security services. The graduates have first preference in colleges and universities across the country. Recruits are told they do not need the standard ‘O’ and ‘A’ level passes to get into professions like nursing or teaching. A certificate from the youth centre is touted as a passport to any profession they want. The ‘green bombers,’ as they are derisively called, have to earn their stripes by terrorising and killing opposition supporters in the run up to any election, and continue to be used as a para-military force. The Reserve Bank has also employed their services in several of its ‘economic’ crackdowns.