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Calls for peace meaningless if political leaders are not peaceable

Editorials
Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga

RULING Zanu PF leaders and government officials have taken to calling for peace in the country at every turn, especially as the nation nears general elections, likely in August this year.

The latest is Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga who told the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Business Conference: “Let us all pray to ensure that our elections are held in a peaceful environment. Peace is critical for economic development.”

The VP even sought to invoke the memory of the late Vice-President John Nkomo: “We should not allow anything to derail our economic transformation trajectory. So, we have to be guided by that slogan by the late John Landa Nkomo which says ‘peace begins with me, peace with you and peace begins with all of us.”

Zimbabweans have always desired peace, but it is telling that in its fifth decade as an independent nation, peace remains a fanciful notion among its people.

The struggle for peace has been long, stretching from the early days of independence, when internal disturbances led to the killing of over 20 000 people in what is now largely known as Gukurahundi.

Even the famed Unity Accord between the leaders of Zanu and Zapu, the late President Robert Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo failed to put an end to the violence fomented by the politics of intolerance.

The leaders of the current administration were also at the forefront of the Gukurahundi massacres, so it goes without saying that they preach peace in front of the cameras, but stoke intolerance and beatings of political opponents away from prying eyes. 

Political leaders in this country are the ones stoking violence evidencing the animosity and the distrust between themselves.

Even a government of national unity from 2009 to 2013 failed to heal the mutual animosity between Zanu PF and the opposition.

The polarisation between the two parties and their supporters has worsened.

State-sponsored violence against perceived critics of government has increased while human rights abuses have risen in frequency and scale since the 2018 elections.

Increasing weaponisation of the law against detractors of the government shows how far we have to go to become a mature democracy, a country where having an opposing view does not mean a six-month pre-trial detention among the worst criminals in society, at a maximum-security prison.

Yes Mr VP, Zimbabweans yearn for peaceful elections, to choose their leaders without threats against their lives, families or being frogmarched to cast votes for someone they hold responsible for ruining their existence.

Peace must start with you, our political leaders. Once you have learned how to be peaceable, Zimbabweans will prove to you that they have never been a violent people.

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