Editorial Comment: Let’s heed President’s call for peace in Zim

was billeted in bullets and managed transition, carefully treading the thoroughfare from war to orderly administration, the word peace evokes memories of the bitter struggle and the sworn commitments they made never to walk that painful road again.
President Mugabe is part of the generation of the anti-colonialism movement and knows quite well how the absence of peace can affect a nation and derail its aspirations. It is against this background that when a man who prosecuted the struggle and navigated the delicate transitional terrain from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe deserves our attention when he speaks passionately about the need for peace. 
The President has urged the nation to shun violence and remain united since it is in unity of purpose where our strength lies.
“Maintaining peace is not the responsibility of the security services only, but is indeed the responsibility of all citizens.
“We all can positively contribute to peace and stability through our actions or inaction,” he said at the weekend.
We applaud the principled call by the President on the need for peace in the run-up to, during and after elections and call on Zimbabweans to work for peace. 
The President threw a challenge to the nation by enjoining us to treasure and nurture the peace that some of us now take for granted though our television images remind us daily how terribly wrong things can turn when a nation sacrifices peace on the altar of expediency.
The peace that we enjoy today under President Mugabe’s stewardship should never be taken for granted.
The eight Millennium Development Goals that the world has its eyes firmly fixed on can only be fulfilled in an environment of peace, a clear indication that peace is a prerequisite to national development and a useful barometer used to measure national progress towards the citizenry’s aspirations. 
The President has been noticeably and persistently consistent in his call for peace. A fortnight ago in his Heroes Day address, the Head of State again made an impassioned call for peace, a subject close to his heart. Let us see people of diverse political persuasions embracing peace to guarantee development in this country. As Zimbabweans we owe it to ourselves to preserve this jewel, our only home, for we know of no other home. 
It therefore behoves every responsible national to differ with political friend or foe within our borders within the confines of reason since we risk having our land pillaged should we pander to the whims of opportunists in pursuit of short-term goals for their selfish ends.
Our detractors are vainly waiting for that day that shall never come when Zimbabweans turn against each other due to the impact of sanctions and countless other manoeuvres, especially around elections when several Trojan horses are saddled, ready to ride roughshod over our national values and trash the very blood that unshackled this land from the settlers’ fetters.
Elections should be our spring time, a time of renewal, where mandates are renewed or fresh ones granted, not the false spring spawned by the so-called Facebook revolution in the Magreb region which has not known peace since the advent of imported violence camouflaged as democracy was unleashed on their territories.
Let us take the President’s call for peace to heart and ensure that we consolidate the peace that his generation ushered by taking control of our resources to steer our national development to guarantee sustainable peace.