It also demands that we all genuinely disavow violence as members, actors and leaders of political parties.
We cannot make and pass laws for peace, which peace we do not cherish or cultivate; in fact, which we daily undermine as political actors.
Nyatsime was about violence deployed and orchestrated from above. That made the whole development dishonourable. We thus have to show, both by force of conduct and example, how to forge peace at all times and in all circumstances, including during elections.
Where one or some of our own get associated with political violence, our collective voices must be heard on the side of peace, in clear unison and across the political divide. There is no better violence simply because it comes from your side. Such reasoning – if one it is at all – amounts to a clear want of leadership.
In 2013, we unanimously endorsed our Constitution, all of us across political parties.
That Constitution, which is non-partisan and which binds us all, clearly abhors violence in all its forms. It emphasises the primacy of rule of law and due process over whims and violent reflexes, in the pursuit of rights and interests.
That Constitution and all the statutes below it allows provide no hiding place for violence, or those associated with any form of violence, including that inspired by base politics. In interpreting the law, our courts must draw a clear line in the sand, so there is no hesitancy or vexations on matters involving political violence.
Once convicted, perpetrators of violence should and must know they are in for a long and painful custodial haul. Only that way do we send a clear signal to merchants of violence, and to the rest of society, that violence does not pay.
Threats to life and limb, and to the authority of the State, must be viewed as dire, and a clear danger to national peace, national stability and to those values that we live by, and seek to inculcate, entrench and bequeath to posterity.
2023 must see us open a new page in our electoral politics. We must renovate our politics; or where needed, reinvent them entirely. Indeed, peace begins with you and me, with all of us. In unison, we all must chant: Polls for Peace, Unity, Love and Harmony in 2023, and for all times.
By President Emmerson Mnangagwa for The Sunday Mail
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