Mnangagwa urges rivals to preach peace to followers

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has called on different political parties and candidates contesting in the July 30 harmonised elections to continue preaching peace and unity among Zimbabweans saying he was happy with the tranquility in the country so far.

In an audio message posted on various platforms including the ED Has My Vote Facebook page, President Mnangagwa said the contest between candidates should be on ideas and not physical clashes.

"I wish to express to you my desire for us to have a peaceful election. You may be a Zanu-PF member or a member of an opposition political party, the crucial thing that we require of all our political parties is peace.

"We must also encourage the general public to elect us in peace. Differences maybe there, but those differences should be about ideas and one party saying they can execute them better than the other party.

"That is allowed. For now I'm quite pleased that so far we've not had any problems regarding our politics. All parties, brought together, are campaigning peacefully. My wish is for us to continue like that," said President Mnangagwa.

"I would also like to appeal to all candidates, in their individual capacity or as a collective, to continue preaching the gospel of peace and unity in our country."

President Mnangagwa said while the country could be facing a few challenges, there were already glaring signs of change since the new administration took over the reins of power in November last year.

"We now have peace, we now hope in everything that we do. As you know Rome was not built in a day, but the foundation for a better Zimbabwe has already been laid and it's there for everyone to see. So let us all be united and work as unit to develop our country, because no one else but us can develop our country," said President Mnangagwa.

"If we remain united, we will never experience hunger in our country. We shall work on improving our schools infrastructure for our children to have a better education. We shall also improve our health delivery system to ensure that our healthcare facilities are adequately resourced with drugs and other requirements.

"We want more schools so that each one of us in our respective areas, our children can walk short distances to the nearest school. We also want our people to walk short distances to the nearest clinic. We would also want to refurbish our road network."

The President said his Government was also doing everything in its power to resuscitate industry and create more jobs.

"That is why you see me visiting other countries to lure investors into the country. They're injecting capital, building new factories, they are venturing into mining, and they are doing quite a lot to improve our railway system," said President Mnangagwa.

"All this cannot be done in one day, but we have already started. So I say to you, this coming election must be held in peace, for us to prosper together. Yes I am the President of Zanu-PF, so I urge my fellow Zanu-PF members to go out in their numbers and vote to preserve our national heritage, because this heritage we have in an Independent Zimbabwe was brought about by Zanu-PF."

Addressing Zanu-PF supporters in Masvingo last Friday, President Mnangagwa said he will soon meet fellow presidential candidates following the sitting of the nomination court the previous day so that they commit to holding peaceful polls.