Its stated purpose was to "transform and empower youths for nation building through life skills training and leadership development." The National Youth Service had been condemned in the West and in Africa for gross human rights violations on behalf of the ZANU-PF party. Within Zimbabwe the graduates of the service were known pejoratively as "Green Bombers" after the fatigue uniforms they wore and more recently as the "Youth Brigade". The organisation was banned in January 2018 after the fall of Mugabe.