Teenage binge-drinking among Bulawayo’s teens has reached alarming levels, amid concerns of moral decay and city fathers have resolved to debate on the matter at a full council meeting.
Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said they have noted with concern the manner in which teens were conducting themselves saying they contribute to the high noise levels and other related disturbances in the central business district, especially on weekends.
“The Housing and Community services and Social Welfare will investigate this development as a matter of urgency, as this issues cannot be ignored because it has a bearing on society as a whole,” said Clr Moyo.
The mayor’s concerns come in the wake of a plethora of illicit house parties hosted by youths, who in most cases are aged as young as 13 years of age in the affluent suburbs of Bulawayo.
A visit to some of the house parties in Khumalo, Hillside, North End and Mahatshula after getting a lead from a social networking site Facebook where these teens organise their activities from.
There is a Facebook page called Simonsayz Makuwa, where the teens organise such parties and according to last week’s “gig guide” there was a total of eight house parties across the city. Some of the social networking platforms used to organise these parties are Whatsapp, Viber and Mxit.
The advert posted on Facebook on 23 November reads: “Today if you find yourself sleeping at home and fail to even attend one of these (parties) you defiantly got a problem or you good as dead.”
Upon arrival at a party titled “a playboy party” in Burnside the news crew was barred from accessing the venue, as it was strictly by invite and sources within reported that participants engaged in sexual activities and other adult games.
The teens who were milling in the yard were seen consuming alcohol while others who were visibly drunk were dancing to loud music.
Most of these parties start in the afternoon and go up to the early hours of the morning.
The pick up point is at Haddon and Sly along Fife Street. Commuter omnibuses are usually hired to ferry these party goers to the venues.
One has to visit the city centre on a Saturday and witness the multitude of visibly drunk teenagers dressed in trendy clothes, milling around the pick up centre.
They will be carrying with them boxes of expensive alcoholic beverages such as Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniels, Viceroy, Jameson and ciders for consumption at these parties.
At a similar party hosted at House Number 60 Moffat Road, Hillside, teens exhibited wild behaviour and were seen drinking all sorts of alcoholic concoctions.
The young girls were at the centre of the goings on, “twerking” the night away, while the boys watched intimately every piece of action.
Twerking is the latest dance craze which comprises of explicit gyrations.
A group called “Party Freaks” hosted an illicit house party called “vintage stripper night” at Northend Lodge on Saturday night where teenagers engaged in binge-drinking until the wee hours of the morning. Some are reported to have stripped naked at the party.
The “Stiffler’s Halloween 21st party” at number 3A Montgomery, Hillside, was the highlight of last week’s teen parties where hundreds of drunk teenagers flocked there to drink, smoke and dance.
Others were seen in pairs in dark corners of the yard cuddling and kissing while others were smoking marijuana and consuming alcohol at the same time.
Some drunk teens were playing inside the swimming pool despite their drunken state.
It is a mystery where the teenagers,most of them who are still at school, get the money to host the parties and buy the expensive alcohol and whether they get permission from their parents and guardians to host these parties.
However, indications point to the fact that some of the parties are held in properties where the owners are living in the diaspora and the properties are in the care of the children or relatives.
These parties have also provided drug peddlers with a ready market.
- radiodialogue.com
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