WELEAD’s constitution campaign gathers momentum
Staff Reporter
On the 27th September 2021, WELEAD Trust, a youth organisation kickstarted a campaign dubbed ‘We Know the Constitution,’ which is aimed at educating young people on constitutionalism issues in Zimbabwe.
The campaign was officially launched during a physical outreach in Chitungwiza and a virtual launch on twitter spaces on the same day.
The campaign is targeting youth in an effort to raise youth awareness and literacy of the constitution of Zimbabwe and its implications on youth. It also seeks to increase youth awareness and urgency around bills and laws in parliament and their implications on Zimbabwean Constitutionalism.
Liam Kanhenga, who is a 4th year Politics and Public Management student at MSU participated in the campaign through article writing to raise awareness around constitutional matters among young people. Liam also attended workshops and virtual programs organised by WEALED Trust.
“The Constitution is the supreme law of the land that governs the interaction and existence of all citizens and so it is important for young people to know the constitution so they can understand their rights and duties as citizens. Knowledge of the Constitution also empowers youths in their quest to fight for democracy,” said Liam as he outlined the need for young people to familiarise themselves with the Constitution.
Liam was full of praise for the approach taken by WELEAD to draw youths into participating on constitutional matters.
“I like what WELEAD did as they started engaging youths on instagram because that is where you find young people. The decision to engage on instagram, facebook and twitter was a masterstroke because by doing so, WELEAD engaged youths in their already existing spaces rather than trying to create alternative spaces for young people which would have yielded very little,” he said.
WELEAD Trust hopes that by the end of the campaign, the ability of youth to self-organize for the advancement of constitutionalism in Zimbabwe and the participation of young women in the constitutionalism discourse in Zimbabwe would have increased significantly.
Tamuka Gurure was part of the outreach team that went to Chitungwiza to engage youths on issues concerning the Constitution. He also took part in the twitter push party that shared messages about the constitution on the platform.
“We highlighted important things in the constitution that included the right to personal dignity, the right to life and the right to a free trial, among other constitutional provisions.
The campaign was a success as the Twitter push party trended for a week under the #ConstitutionCulture.
The community outreach program reached close to one thousand youths in Chitungwiza alone,” he said.
According to Gurure, it is incumbent upon young people to know the constitution to protect themselves and other citizens from violations by state and non-state actors.
“Knowing the Constitution is key to the democratisation of Zimbabwe. Through this knowledge, youths can grow to be community leaders who will protect and preserve the constitutional spirit,” he added.
A number of organizations and individual youth have pledged support or signed on to assist in the campaign. The hashtag for the campaign, #ConstitutionCulture, has trended on social media on several occasions and WELEAD Trust encourages more people to join the conversation using #ConstitutionCulture and follow WELEAD Trust on Facebook and @weleadtem on twitter and Instagram for updates and more information about the campaign.
Since the launch in September, WELEAD Trust has taken the campaign to Masvingo and Chiredzi and have directly reached over 1000 youths with the constitutional outreach program. It has also held several twitter spaces, zoom meetings and Instagram live discussions on constitutionalism issues.
