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Stephen Mpofu, Perspective
A SWEET tongue and a warm embrace play magical wonders in mobilising human and material support for national development in a warm, peaceful environment for any country in the world.
On the contrary, the stick and violent language go down in the history of any country as antidotes to an environment of amity and unity which are vital catalysts for the advancement of societies anywhere and everywhere in our global village as a human race.
It is in the contexts of the two statements above that peaceful rather than bush-craft electoral campaigns for victory should occupy the minds of opposition and ruling political party supporters so that international election observers already deployed and monitoring the run-up to the polls and all other global village observers via IT connectivity and newspapers may hail the outcome of the election as free and fair and in that way shame countries which retain brutal economic sanctions to try to remove the incumbent Zanu-PF political party from power or, failing that, completely ruin our economy to try to install a neo-colonialist regime that kowtows to Western imperialist machinations that thrive in a nation where people are divided, are at each other’s throats and in that way remain weak politically and raising begging bowls like kites in the air.
If truth be reiterated in this discourse which tallies with what happens in general circumstances, a political party which rides on violence into electoral victory, be it an incumbent ruler or one in opposition, the stigma of violence is sure to deny it local public support as well as the sympathy, embrace and a developmental journey with other more economically powerful countries in the global village where economic and political support provide a magic wand for peace and stability.
Moreover, the veracity of the saying that “violence breeds violence” cannot be easily erased from the minds of the general public who will, if they themselves are peace-lovers, deny support for a government born out of a culture of violence by members of each political party.
On the other hand, a clean political party that loses power to a violent counterpart and continues to pursue a culture of peaceful coexistence with political opponents can rest assured by this pen and by history that it will continue to lure lovers of peace and harmony and national unity into its ranks and win elections next time around whether political hooligans like it or not.
Pregnant in the sentence above is the humble communicologist’s advice to losers in political elections to not become polarised against victors in elections but rather relate well to them, and render advice or assistance when sought for blitz-krieging any obstacles to national development as successes in economic, political and social advancement benefit both erstwhile winners and losers — who happen to feed from the same pot — mother Zimbabwe.
So tolerance between ruling and opposition political parties in the current campaigning for victory on August 23 should take centre stage with those who agree to be used by their political parties to brutalise, and in the process intimidate opponents into submission before the actual day of the election should say “no” and instead abide by the law which demands peace and harmony by all citizens.
Youths are mostly wielded by their political organisations as sticks with which to brutalise and in the process demobilise rivals in political campaigns.
To restore peace and order in the run-up to the polls the police are empowered and must not hesitate to unleash the code of peace and harmony against any and all political thugs so that praise-worthy elections go down in the annals of Zimbabwe political history for others in the global village to raise their hats to us in a “well done” gesture.
Online Reporter