Zimbabwe’s political parties have pledged to promote peace and unity in the run-up to the August elections, promising to break away from violence often associated with polls.
The pledge was made at an interparty dialogue meeting organised by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance (ZCA).
The meeting held at a local church in Nkulumane was attended by aspiring candidates from ZANU-PF, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), ZAPU, and Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP).
The themes under discussion included tolerance, respecting each other’s boundaries when campaigning, educating the supporters about the electoral processes, avoiding hate speech, and accepting the outcome were raised amongst other important issues discussed.
ZCA also took the opportunity to pray for the aspiring candidates and the peaceful elections in the country
Bulawayo provincial youth chair for ZANU-PF, Freedom Murechu said he hopes the candidates will take what they learnt during the dialogue to their wards and constituencies.
“I am delighted as a candidate when we have such tolerance amongst each other as candidates, I pray that even if we go outside, we continue with the same spirit as we had while we were here,” said Murechu.
“I hope that we won’t be the leaders who indicate left then turn right, what we spoke about here should be what we will do when we go outside to the people, we pray for peace and preach peace so that people can do their campaigns peacefully.”
He said their leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa always encourages them not to engage in violence and defend the country using the ballot.
In addition, CCC candidate Bruce Mmeli Moyo appreciated ZCA for organising the dialogue as they had an opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas on how they can deal with political violence.
Moyo also urged ZCA to continue cultivating a culture of peace.
“The meeting was very successful and peaceful, we thank the church and we encourage the church to play a critical role, the church must come and advise the political players, we encourage them to continue cultivating the environment of peace, an environment that can produce a free and fair election which emphasizes more on morals as Zimbabwean we have Ubuntu,” he said.
If only political parties could sincerely practise what they are preaching at this level at the highest levels of their organisations.
We will all have to leave with each other after the elections.
There are only a few weeks left to election day. It would be a miracle if the country could redeem itself from perennial curse of election violence.