15 youth cadres for the continuance of the “informal repression” that has characterized much of the past 4 years25. Here a strong case has been made for the diagnosis of “informal repression” by most Zimbabwean human rights groups, which has been strongly endorsed by most international human rights groups, most of whom have expressed concern about the youth militia. Concern about the youth militia has even been expressed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in its report to the Executive Council of the African Union26. It will be appreciated that it is not easy to investigate these claims, any more than it was easy to demonstrate the “third force” elements during the struggle in South Africa. However, the allegations are strongly supported by the evidence from human rights organizations, and does suggest that many youth – some say as many as 50,000 – have been subjected to fierce ideological training. They suggest that the youth have been trained in methods of violence – mainly torture – and have learned to have contempt for the law; the reports indicate that the graduates of the National Youth Service training camps have operated with complete impunity, not merely in respect of the political violence, but also in respect of frank criminal activity27. The National Youth Service scheme has not only produced young people who are able to carry out human rights violations with little compunction, but these same youth are now being placed within the normal structures of Zimbabwean society. Graduates of the scheme are being offered preferential access to many jobs within the state, but also educational opportunities in many different fields. Reports indicate that most new recruits to the police and army are such graduates, whilst places in training institutes, colleges and universities are being opened preferentially to the same population. So there clearly are advantages to joining the scheme, and this is rather sinister if the allegations of indoctrination and training in violence are accurate. There is much more that can be said about the role of youth in political violence, but here it is enough to note that the government does not deny setting up training institutions for the National Youth Service, nor that they receive ideological orientation within a military-type framework. There are severe disputes between the government and other bodies about whether these youth are involved in gross human rights violations. It is important to verify whether such training exists, and what the training involves; it is also important to determine whether the youth are involved in gross human rights violations, but the political question is whether those trained reflect the views of their peers. What is the scale of the split between rural, African, Zanu PF youth and urban, Western, MDC youth? Or maybe there other constructs not so evident? Consensus on and participation in self government Here the process examined tested the degree to which citizens - here the youth - believe that they live in a democracy and are able to participate in the national democratic process. The results overall indicate that youth believe that Zimbabwe lacks consensus on or participation in selfgovernment. 25 Here see Reeler, A.P (2004), Militarised Youth in Zimbabwe, Paper presented to the 2nd National Conference on Victim Empowerment, “Ten Years of Democracy: From Victims’ Needs to Victims’ Rights?” 31 August to 2 September 2004, ICC, Durban, Themba LeSizwe. 26 Here see the Executive Summary of the Report of the Fact-finding Mission to Zimbabwe, 24th to 28th June 2002, Annex II, EX.CL/109 (V). The Commission commented as follows: The activities of the youth militia trained in the youth camps have been brought to our attention. Reports suggest that these youth serve as party militia engaged in political violence, The African Commission proposes that these youth camps be closed down and training centres be established under the ordinary education and employment system of the country. 27 See Solidarity Peace Trust (2003), National youth service training. “ shaping youths in a truly Zimbabwean manner”.An overview of youth militia training and activities in Zimbabwe, October 2000 – August 2003, SOUTH AFRICA & ZIMBABWE: SOLIARITY PEACE TRUST. IDASA: Zimbabwe at the Cross-Roads: Views of Zimbabwean citizens on democracy and transitional justice.