adminRay Bande Manicaland Bureau
OVER 30 churches and civic organisations in Manicaland on Friday denounced demonstrations as a fruitless avenue in solving the country’s challenges and declared June as a month of prayer and peace in the province.
The month of prayer and peace will run under the theme “A call for peace: The blood that was shed on the cross is enough”.
Speaking at a press conference in Mutare last week, Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum (CSCJF) national coordinator Ms Abigail Mupambi said past experiences had proved demonstrations to be counter-productive for Zimbabweans.
Ms Mupambi said the sad reality was that demonstrations always degenerate into violence and the people who are either injured or killed in the process are not the leaders or instigators.
“We have always called for repositioning of the people’s agenda in this country. It is common cause that we belong to different political parties and that is even constitutional.
“However, it is not correct to always see each other from a political perspective. Surely, we do not need those political party surnames we have given each other. We are all Zimbabweans and we only have one Zimbabwe to develop.
“I have been part of demonstrations before and I know how it all ends up. It is sad that each time we have demonstrations those that get injured or even killed are the followers. We have tried peaceful demonstrations, but they do not end peacefully.
“August 1 is an example. It is painful that the leaders of these demonstrations do not even know or bother to look for the addresses of victims after demonstrations. They do not even attend your funeral. So when we condemn these things we do so in the strongest terms because we know the consequences,” said Ms Mupambi.
Speaking at the same function, Reverend Loveshow Muponde, who read out the CSCJF press statement, said circulating social media messages calling for demonstrations did not deserve the attention of progressive Zimbabweans.
“We, the churches and civic organisations in Manicaland having wider and diverse audience which we speak to and represent, which often out of desire to participate in the governance of the nation find themselves in different political parties and unfortunately are often misled by insincere political leaders, the selfish and power-hungry which sacrifice them for political expediency. We are therefore united against the calls for violence in our province.
“Civic Society and Churches Joint Forum has 30 organisations and unanimously have condemned disturbing circulating messages by wicked agents that hate peace and unity. To the authorities we urge that they do not overreact to such unruly behaviour. Manicaland will not participate in violent demonstrations, rather we urge the State to increase the presence of peace-keepers as our province recovers and heals,” he said.
Reverend Walter Nyakunu, the provincial coordinator for CSCJF, said Manicaland must be given a chance to peacefully mourn its departed after the devastating Cyclone Idai.
“It is sad that we in Manicaland do not need to be reminded about the devastating effects of violence after having suffered one of the worst forms of violence at the hands of Cyclone Idai. We are saying let us give peace a chance and find amicable ways of solving our political challenges,” he said.
The initiative by CSCJF comes hard on the heels of social media once again playing a part in calling for demonstrations just like what happened in January this year.
However, the protests became violent in some areas resulting needless loss of lives.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police is on record recently as declaring that it is ready to deal with anyone who engages in violence.
Online Reporter