Those who want to incite violence must be dealt with ruthlessly

TOMORROW all roads lead to different polling stations dotted across the country as Zimbabweans exercise their democratic right to elect men and women who will preside over their governance issues for the next five years. Citizens will elect the President, Members of the National Assembly and councillors during these harmonised elections.

So far so good, the country is enjoying peace and tranquility but what is however of serious concern is the reckless utterances at the weekend by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Mr Nelson Chamisa that he will announce the results of the elections on 24 August.

Mr Chamisa is threatening to violate the Electoral Act by taking over the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)'s responsibility to announce results of the elections. ZEC has already warned against such conduct saying those who dare announce the results risk being imprisoned for up to one year.

The campaign period has been very peaceful but is now being spoiled at the last hurdle by these threats of wanting to deliberately violate the country's Electoral laws.

To the uninformed such utterances might be inconsequential but these are serious threats that might cause anarchy after the elections.

There is therefore a need to ensure mechanisms are put in place to deal decisively with those who attempt to take over ZEC's responsibility of announcing results. This is what caused chaos after the 2018 elections and Mr Chamisa seems to relish a repeat of this.

We have said NO to violence and those who want to incite violence must be dealt with ruthlessly.

 President Mnangagwa has been preaching the gospel of peace throughout the campaign period and to our surprise we have among those that aspire to preside over the governance of this country threatening to take over the role of ZEC in the elections.

When people contest in an election there are two outcomes - a win or a loss and that should be made very clear to Mr Chamisa. He should accept either result with humility otherwise he should not have participated in the elections in the first place.

We want to commend Zimbabweans for their conduct during the campaign period and want them to maintain the peace as they exercise their right to vote tomorrow.

We continue to repeat President Mnangagwa's appeal to citizens to jealously safeguard the enduring peace, unity and stability that the country is enjoying which should be an example to other countries in the region and beyond.

It's the eve of the 2023 harmonised elections and we repeat President Mnangagwa's message on the eve of the 2018 harmonised general elections which we strongly believe is as relevant today as it was then.  

He said: "Let us all -citizens and candidates alike - be respectful, tolerant and love one another. Let us remember that no matter who we support, we are all brothers and sisters and that, above all, Zimbabwe after the polls will still be home to us all - winners and losers".

Mr Chamisa should not be allowed to discredit the electoral process by illegally announcing election results.