Beaven Dhliwayo
Harare – Renowned Kenyan novelist Ngugi wa Thiongo once said, “If you want to know the tomorrow of a people, look in the eyes of the young. If you want to know their thinking tomorrow, read the minds of the young.”
If one were to go by the words of Ngugi, then the youths in most high density suburbs in Harare and other cities portray a picture of a confused and hopeless society.
Instead of engaging in productive activities, most youths have developed a culture of abusing harmful drugs which include cannabis (Marijuana) affectionately call “ganja” (a Jamaican word to describe the herb) and an addictive cough mixtures including BronCleer, popularly known as ‘Bronco’.
It has become the “in thing” for Zimbabwean youths to smoke cannabis and drink BronCleer that they have created language to popularize the “feel good effect” including such words as “kustika” (to get stuck), and “kubatwa” (to get caught).
This practice that mostly youths from high density suburbs have adopted is widely believed to have been influenced by music.
Music known for having a positive effect on a person’s mental health as it can be calming, relaxing as well as being intellectually stimulating and this is true for all age groups.
Although music is used for positive growth in some areas, in others it sends a negative message to those who listens to it.
Zimbabwean youths have been greatly influenced by Jamaican dancehall artistes, especially the likes of Vybz Kartel, born Adidja Palmer, most of whose songs are about drugs, violence, guns, sex and other things that children do not need to hear about.
Nowadays popular music genre Zim Dancehall has lyrical content that glorifies the use of Marijuana and cough syrups like Bronco and Histalix.
It is widely accepted that youths are significantly influenced by music icons and Zim Dancehall artistes are not an exception.
The artistes sing songs about ‘kustika’, ‘kubatwa’, and ‘kushamira’ (opening the mouth wide in order to pour the liquid drug), and when the youths hear these, they start mimicking that behavior and cause problems with parents and teachers.
Author Donald Roberts in an article on his blog about ‘the effect of violent music on children and adolescents’, noted that in a survey on junior and high school students, a majority of them marked a box labeled, ‘Has felt negatively influenced by music’ rather than in the box that said, ‘Has never felt negatively influenced by music.’
Roberts mentioned several times in the article that, ‘the evidence of that survey alone should be enough altogether to stop the broadcasting of inappropriate music’.
Studies show that youths who indulge in substance abuse also have a tendency to partake in high risk play activities, self-abuse, and in worst circumstances, death by suicide.
Two different but related cases of juvenile delinquency, one of 28 students at a nude party in Westgate and the other of clueless drunk youths milling along Mbuya Nehanda Street (reportedly after coming out of the Big Apple Night Club) which appeared in the media and went viral on the internet, point to a worrying moral decadence which can be attributed to the prevalent alcohol and substance abuse rampant in the country.
The situation cannot be left alone and has to be nipped in the bud, by way of interventions from relevant government and youths organizations through deliberate and robust awareness programs on the dangers of intoxication on youth development initiatives.
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