Youth political participation in Zimbabwe and the prospects for representation in the national parliament (2017-2023)

Abstract

Youth political participation is a relatively new area of study. Youth political participation is a right. This right is enshrined in several international conventions, including the UDHR and AU Charter and subsequently adopted or incorporated into national laws. In Zimbabwe, youth political participation is enshrined in the constitution and the revised National Youth Policy 2020. Notwithstanding this, global statistics reveal low representation of youth in governance institutions, including the national parliament. The international scenario on youth representation is also relatable to the Zimbabwe case. Interestingly, following the 2017 military-assisted transition in Zimbabwe, the nation experienced momentous political events with the chance to transform the country's governance system. In this respect, this study examined youth political participation under the Second Republic and the prospects of their representation in the national parliament. Using democratic theories as the framework of analysis, the study revealed that while it is commonly held that democracy provides a system of social organisation for a just, equitable, accountable, and representative system, no single theory posits how this can be achieved. This is further complicated by the notion that, as a concept, political participation is dynamic and elastic. Political participation encompasses all the institutionalised and non-institutionalised activities that are taken to influence policy. While participatory democracy provided a valuable contribution which can be related to this study on youth political participation with prospects for representation in the national parliament, it falls short of clearly outlining the critical political activities needed for democratising parliaments. The core contribution made by participatory democracy is the identification of the workplace as a sector of participation which needs to be democratised. Participatory democrats argued that the workers spend most of their working hours at the workplace; hence, they should directly participate in the decision-making process at the workplace. Participation is crucial because it leads to the worker's self-development. The theory also posits that the workplace should be democratised not for its sake but to democratise the entire political system. This provided the basis for this study's use of the parliament as a sector of participation that can be democratised through youth representation. Using a case analysis of the 2018 and 2023 harmonised elections in Zimbabwe, the study developed a new theory of participatory democracy with safeguards for youth participation. This theory uses parliament as a sector that needs to be democratised through youth inclusion and representation. The basis for youth inclusivity is the idea that since the youth constitute a large share of the Zimbabwean population, they must be involved in the making of decisions that affect their lives. The post-2017 political environment and the leadership of Mnangagwa under the rubric of the 'Second Republic' or 'New Dispensation' and the increased interest in the 2018 and 2023 elections among the youth made the elections suitable case studies. The new theory used identified four institutionalised political activities which are campaigning, voting, candidature and election into political office as the requisite activities for youth representation in the national parliament. These activities were presented on two pyramids, starting with campaign at the bottom and election at the apex. Pyramid A represented the empirical case of youth participation in Zimbabwe, which had the potential of being transformed by reforms enacted under the Second Republic, leading to the ideal scenario where youth participation across the activities in the pyramid is even. Findings from the literature, including election observation reports for the 2018 elections, confirmed the diagrammatic representation of youth participation in Figure A, where youth participation is mainly concentrated on the lower rungs of pyramids during campaigns and voting. Despite the increased number of youths who registered to vote during the 2018 elections, the number of youths elected into the 9th Parliament was low. Of the 270 MPs for the 9th parliament, only five were youths, of which three were directly elected, while the other two were young women elected through the women's PR system. This, again, is in line with the illustration on the Pyramid, where youth participation as candidates and election into political office is concerning. On the other hand, the structural changes, including introducing the youth quota in 2021, influenced youth candidature for the 2023 elections. This resulted in an increased number of young parliamentarians in the 10th parliament. Out of the 280 MPs for the 10th Parliament, 35 are youths. Of the 35, 17 were directly elected into parliament, ten came through the youth quota, and eight were elected through the women's PR. The findings on youth participation in the 10th Parliament again conform to Pyramid B's depiction of youth participation. Pyramid B represents the ideal, and the relative increase of youth following the 2023 elections can be considered as such. The implications of the findings for youth participation in the 2018 and 2023 harmonised elections and the subsequent representation in the 9th and 10th Parliament, respectively, point to fundamental theoretical and governance issues. In terms of the new theory that was developed in the study, while increased youth representation in the 10th Parliament was recorded, in literature, especially with the youth quota, it has been described as 'skewed demographic representation.' Theoretically, it implies that the nature of youth representation may improve, yet structural changes within the governance system must support the improvement. The study concludes that the relative improvement of youth representation in the 10th Parliament in Zimbabwe is not sustainable because it has not been accompanied by structural changes that have been limiting youth participation. Therefore, sustainable youth representation in parliament, the essence of Pyramid B, or the ideal situation, can be achieved through structural changes. The new theory presents these changes as safeguards to promote youth participation. These safeguards include, among other changes, aligning the voting age with the eligibility age to run for parliamentary positions (National Assembly and Senatorial seats), increased reserved youth quota seats and democratic candidate selection processes. Broadly, using youth political participation as an indicator of assessing the post-2017 governance system in Zimbabwe, the study advances the notion that there have been no fundamental political reforms in Zimbabwe that foster youth participation, such instead of democratising the governance system in the old republic remains intact. The purported 'Second Republic' is just a carry-over from the old system. The safeguards advanced in this study cannot be generalised to other country case studies. However, the use of systematic analysis of youth participation across the activities in the Pyramids can, as a means of identifying context-specific challenges hindering youth representation in parliaments.