Our new Zimbabwe will not be derailed by violence

Like the birth pangs during labour, which brings forth new life, the birthing of our new Zimbabwe it seems will also not be without pain.

While we took to the streets in November and demanded a new Zimbabwe, we succeeded because we came together as one in peace and unity.

The last seven months have felt different. Gone is the sense of fear and insecurity that used to preoccupy us during almost every waking moment.

To supporter and detractor alike, all must admit that President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a new type of Zimbabwean leader. His language is peaceful, his rhetoric is unifying and his efforts are progressive.

A new Zimbabwe has been built under his watch, regardless of election results next month.

Our economy is starting to recover, foreign investment is pouring in and our nascent free and fair democracy is being built.

If one needed further proof, the sight of MDC supporters chanting against the president on the streets of Harare with his full blessing as police nonchalantly watched on shows just how much has changed in such a short amount of time.

The fact that a sitting Zanu PF president banned a counter-march by his own party to keep the peace would have been absolutely unthinkable just eight months ago.

However, yesterday's attempt on the president's life shows there are efforts to drag us back to a darker path where violence was the primary language of politics. Those who tried to hurt the president were attempting to drive a dagger through the heart of our new Zimbabwe.

Whether we are Zanu PF, MDC, or hold any political ideology, we must join together and say a firm no to the politics of violence, fear and intimidation.

We must stand by our president regardless of who we will vote for in July and emulate his calls to remain calm and not seek revenge.

Those who seek to hurt him are trying to thwart the process he has successfully begun to get our nation off its knees and once again become a true, proud and equal country in the family of nations.

There are clearly those who prefer the maelstrom of bloodshed and an endless cycle of violence to the ideology of peace and unity that Mnangagwa is building one step at a time. We must reject any calls to hate and cries of revenge, we must show our disgust and our abhorrence by continuing the path that they wish to disrupt and derail.

Our new Zimbabwe is a movement of almost 17 million people and we will not let it be jeopardised because of the few zealots who want to overturn what was achieved over the last seven months.

The explosion at Bulawayo is a great test for our new Zimbabwe, but we are already being led in the right direction from the top. Rather than the talk of revenge or recriminations, President Mnangagwa wrote on his social media pages immediately after the attack which almost claimed his life: "Let us continue to be united and address our differences peacefully. The strongest response to violence is peace. The strongest response to hate is love."

This is a response worthy of our great nation, made by a leader who is justifying his position. Whether we vote for him next month or one of the other candidates, Mnangagwa is creating a legacy of brave and forthright leadership in our new Zimbabwe.