'Politicians inciting violence'

HOME Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe accused political party leaders of inciting violence to destabilise the country ahead of the 2023 polls.

Responding to questions in the Senate, Kazembe said: "Zimbabwe is a peace-loving country. For some reasons we know, some people can't wait for the elections and maybe they are worried that they are going to lose. 2023 is around the corner, but because someone is scared, they resort to violence because they are scared."

Kazembe said the violent political parties want Zimbabwe to remain on the spotlight for the wrong reasons.

"We are aware that people have an agenda to destabilise the country to suit their political agenda, but we do have the law and able men (who) can deal with those malcontents.

"It's now in the public domain that politicians incite public violence and tell people to kill others and burn houses. The law will take its course," Kazembe added.

Meanwhile, National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) spokesperson Obert Gutu told NewsDay on the sidelines of a community healing workshop in Epworth, Harare that the commission was also seized with peace-building initiatives in Nyatsime, Chitungwiza where political violence broke out after the murder of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) activist Moreblessing Ali.

"As a commission, we are praying for unity among political parties in the country. We have a clear roadmap ahead of the 2023 elections, which promotes unity and peace.

"There are challenges when we have many political parties, but let's not fight. Zimbabwe is for all of us," he said.

The death of Ali has also attracted global attention.

In his address to stakeholders who attended the Epworth healing broken families workshop, Gutu said families had an important role to play in peace building.

He said programmes were being implemented to promote national healing, unity and cohesion in Zimbabwe.

"As NPRC, we are here to protect the sovereignty and interests of the people, constitutionalism, transparency and accountability in public institutions," Gutu said.

"Families play a key role in peace building in the country.  If families are broken, we are not going to have a peaceful and united country," he added.

Epworth families narrated their experiences, telling the NPRC and churches that poverty was the main driver of violence and the cause of family break-ups.