Aaron Gono
Visionary Cadres Association of Zimbabwe ( VICAZ) an NGO based in the rich mining town of Zvishavane has joined the fight against drugs and substance abuse in the country through a walkathon.
VICAZ organised the walthaton through its mission statement: “To eliminate drugs and substance abuse from our communities and nation at large.”
As the country is grappling with drug and substance abuse amongst the youths the organisation has seen it fit to raise awareness by walking from Zvishavane to Harare. They began the walkathon on 16 June 2025, from the town of Zvishavane, passing through Masvingo, Mushagashe Vocational Training Centre, and by around 16:00 hrs, today (19-06-25 ) they reached Chaka business centre. That is where they shall put up for tonight.
Tomorrow (20/06/25) they intend to reach Mvuma mining town and mingle with the youths, as well as adults discussing with them about the dangers of drugs and subatnce abuse.
They plan to reach Harare on the 26 th of June 2025. Gone are the days when we used to say; ‘ it’s not our problem.’ The problem is now in the country and it needs awareness because we are losing a lot of young talent to the scourge. It is excoriating us severely as it caught us unaware.
Whenever a catastrophe knocks on one’s door, we tend to shift the blame to someone. In the first days, people blamed unemployment as the major cause. I usually debunked this myth as far from the truth. All industrialized nations have this problem. Currently China is failing to stop the production and distribution of fentanyl, which is causing great harm to the West.
Drug abuse has so many causative factors like social, environment and socio-economic status. In Zimbabwe, factors like peer pressure, family dynamics, and media influence contribute a lot to drugs and substance abuse.
So organisations like VICAZ are walking from point A to B to highlight the dangers of drug abuse.
