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Today all roads from across the country lead to the polling stations dotted throughout the country as Zimbabweans go to cast their vote in the harmonised elections. The campaign period has been peaceful throughout and the major political parties Zanu-PF and MDC-Alliance wound up their campaigns with mega rallies in Harare on Saturday.

The Zanu-PF rally was at the National Sports Stadium while that of MDC-Alliance was across town at the Robert Mugabe Square. There were no reports of violence despite the fact that the rallies were held at venues adjacent to each other. This is political maturity and tolerance which must be commended.

Leaders of different political parties have been able to criss-cross the country campaigning and today is therefore the D-Day as voters indicate through their votes, the individuals or political parties that won their hearts. The President, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa who has been preaching peace throughout the campaign period, urged those contesting the elections to accept the will of the people.

We, as a nation, triumphed during the campaign period and the challenge now is to accept the outcome of the elections and move forward.  “Let us all —citizens and candidates alike — be respectful, tolerant and love one another. Let us remember that no matter who we support, we are all brothers and sisters and that, above all, the Zimbabwe after the polls will still be home to us all — winners and losers”, said Cde Mnangagwa.

Today after voting for our councillors, MPs and the President, we must remember that the challenge ahead is to make Zimbabwe a better place to live not just for ourselves but for future generations as well. We have already said those contesting should respect the will of the people by accepting the results of the elections.

It is the voters who have the mandate to choose those they want to preside over their public affairs. The different political parties have been campaigning telling the voters what they intend to do once voted into power and people have already made up their minds and will express themselves through their vote.

We want to once again wish Zimbabweans a peaceful election day and as already stated, the prevailing peaceful environment should continue after these very important elections. Zimbabwe is already witnessing dramatic changes economically as evidenced by the implementation of big projects in the different sectors of the economy such as mining and tourism.

We have said in the past that the momentum gained should be maintained so that there is a quick economic turnaround. The police have already pledged to ensure a peaceful environment after the elections and we want to urge them to deal decisively with individuals that might attempt to disturb peace.

Those who want to incite anarchy should be taken to where they belong, which is the prison.