The recent clashes between about 30 Zanu PF youths and their People First counterparts when they fought running battles over use of the ruling party’s building in Rusape were as unfortunate as they were unwelcome.
The clashes simply testify to the fact that the country’s political leadership is not genuine when it calls for peace and was not making efforts to ensure that party members heeded the call for peace.
The “newcomers” got a taste of what to expect from a party that boasts of “degrees in violence” and, clearly, there is need for more to be done to ensure peace and drive the message home that despite their political differences, people should be able to live and work together in peace and harmony. There was really no need for Zanu PF youths to seal off the building and disrupt business activity on the premises, particularly at a time when there is need for greater productivity in view of the economic downturn in the country.
The culture of violence that permeates Zimbabwe’s political space has to be stopped once and for all. Hopefully, the arrival of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru on the political scene, albeit in new robes, will help usher in a new paradigm of peace and tolerance, particularly because she refused to speak about President Robert Mugabe, opting to stick to what she is offering to the people of Zimbabwe.
The people of Zimbabwe are sick and tired of political violence, and for many years now, the Church has been praying for peace and it is a good thing that the new political party appears to be ushering in a new dispensation of peace — foreign territory to Zanu PF which has been carried on the crest wave of violence from the time of the liberation struggle.
