Are We Clear on Indigenisation and Youth Empowerment in Zimbabwe? The Views of Some Young Zimbabweans on the Government’s Indigenisation and Youth Empowerment Initiatives

Abstract

Post-colonial Zimbabwe has witnessed two major black empowerment initiatives, namely the land reform and the indigenisation programmes, in terms of which the government has worked towards taking back land and resources from the minority white population and redistributing these to the majority black population. The indigenisation programme has been criticised by some, whereas others have hailed it as a significant milestone in the empowerment of the local black people. The government of Zimbabwe has sought to empower various sectors of the population, namely the youth, women and men. Young people in the country are set to benefit from these initiatives, which have made funds and resources available. However, the indigenisation and youth empowerment initiatives have either been misunderstood by, or are unknown to a number of young people, who have therefore not benefited from them. The purpose of the study was to find out whether a particular group of young people in Bulawayo knew about the indigenisation and youth empowerment initiatives and to elicit their views about these programmes. The target population was a church youth empowerment group, which had four subgroups of twelve members each. The qualitative research methodology was applied, with the case study research design and focus group interviews being used to gather data. Data analysis was conducted on the narratives of the research participants. The study revealed that the majority of the young people who participated in the study were not well informed regarding the indigenisation programme.