A previous analysis of social capital in Zimbabwean youth suggested that youth were largely inactive in the political life of Zimbabwe (RAU.2018(c)). 2 This study indicated a number of findings here:

• Firstly, Social Capital is very low amongst the youth in Zimbabwe, and this has changed very little over the six years between 2012 and 2017;

• Youth access to the more formal sources of information – radio, television and newspaper – is declining, but they make more use of the internet (slightly) and social media (markedly);

• Very few youths feel safe to express their views in public – only 8% in 2017 – and only a third (33%) feel that they have freedom to say what they think. It seems clear that Voice as a constituent of Agency is missing from the youth;

• Zimbabwean youth show a trend to decreasing Political Participation, and a virtual absence of active political engagement in the formal sense. Zimbabwean youth can be characterised as “voters, but not yet citizens”;

Social Capital and Active Citizenship in Zimbabwean Youth: A Statistical Study

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