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VP Chiwenga

The holding of elections in a peaceful environment starts with members of each political party finding each other especially after the primary elections meant to choose candidates for the pending harmonised elections.

It is for this reason that we want to commend the ruling party Zanu-PF for its decision to hold a national healing and reconciliation workshop for its winning and losing candidates. We hope other political parties are also making similar efforts to address conflicts caused by the primaries.

Zanu-PF primary elections which the leadership said were infact a dress rehearsal of the forthcoming general elections as they were open to all members of the party likely to participate in the forthcoming general elections, were meant to enhance internal democracy.

Addressing participants to the two-day national healing and reconciliation workshop in Harare on Tuesday, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said it was the first time that the party had opened up the primaries to all members of the party and allowed as many candidates to compete in the primaries. He said from the onset, the party was aware that the whole process was going to be a mammoth task hence the challenges encountered.

He said the leadership and members of the party should therefore acknowledge that the entire process was a learning curve and as such had its teething problems. Cde Chiwenga who is also the party’s Second Secretary, said now that the primaries are over, party members should be united and campaign to win the elections as one family.

He said the election campaign should be free of violence, deepen the spirit of tolerance given the fact that all those that are going to participate in the forthcoming elections are Zimbabweans. “You will be provoked in this campaign by our detractors and even by your fellow comrades but the spirit of tolerance must be within you”, said Cde Chiwenga.

This is the message that must be driven home by leaders of all political parties. It should not be left to the ruling party to preach peace and tolerance but it should be a collective effort of all political parties participating in the forthcoming elections.

The fighting witnessed during the primaries of the different political parties should not be allowed during campaigns, elections and after elections. The healing and reconciliation as already alluded to, should start with the rank and file members of each political party. The police can only assist in maintaining a peaceful environment by bringing the perpetrators of violence to book.

The onus is therefore on all leaders of political parties to ensure their members do not engage in violence. Now that the elections dates have been announced, the election campaigns will soon start in earnest and we once again want to appeal to leaders of political parties to ensure the campaigns are peaceful.

It should be the battle of the minds as different political parties try to woo voters as opposed to engaging in violence. This year’s elections will be witnessed by international observers from across the globe and the challenge is to demonstrate to the international community that we have the capacity to hold free, fair and credible elections as a nation.