In the FGDs, the traditional leaders said their hands were tied and could not do much regarding the politicisation of resources. They acknowledged that, even though their duty was to ensure that everyone under their jurisdiction had a fair share, the resources are politically sourced, and, the moment they are suspected to be opposition sympathisers, no resources would be allocated to their wards. They are caught between a rock and a hard place and continuously need be ―relevant‖, and that meant supporting ZANU PF politics. Young people also suffer in that they are excluded from initiatives that may have a financial benefit and their views are not regarded as important. As a result, youth are concerned about making money and don‘t attend meetings that are called by their local leaders. It is tragic that the response to harness youth grievances has been to co-opt them into the very structures that are exploiting them. For example the local urban Councillors have created a structure where a selected section of the youth is part of that committee. This is also the case in Chiundura where the traditional leadership structure has a youth representative. However, the selection of the representative leaves a lot to be desired as all the grievances are supposed to be channelled to the Committee member who does not always represent the youth, but who also joins the gravy train. At the end of the day, the system is re-inventing itself by window dressing its structures at the expense of addressing youth concerns. This social-economic exclusion results in the youth pursuing their personal errands and other small ventures that may result in financial benefits for them personally rather than to sit in unbeneficial and unfruitful meetings (see Figure 2 over). Figure 2. Frequency of attending public meetings by gender 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Once 2 or 3 times Male 4 or more times Female Table 12: Treatment at public meetings, Mean scores Male Is everyone given the chance to speak Men and women have equal opportunities at Never Female 2.9 2 3 2.2 The effects are more on women who have to contend with such issues as fear of violence apart from the traditional conceptions that 18