adminWalter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has set up peace building mechanisms ahead of today’s harmonised elections, with monitoring teams being deployed across the country.
In an interview on the sidelines of a Mashonaland West Peace Pledge signing ceremony in Chinhoyi last week, NPRC commissioner Choice Ndoro said the process was aimed at following through on the peace pledge made by political parties.
“The NPRC is now implementing the Peace Pledge,” she said. “Yes, the verbal Peace Pledge was made by the national political leaders in Harare.
“We have gone a step further in monitoring the elections.
“The Mashonaland West provincial leadership made the pledge, but what we are now doing is to go a step further and say people should not just pronounce the pledge, hence we are going to monitor peace in the country.”
The NPRC, she said, has joined hands with civic organisations including churches, youths and communities to monitor peace before, during and after the elections.
Civic organisations and communities help bridge manpower limitations to effectively monitor and build peace throughout the country in line with its mandate, she said.
“As a result of our current manpower limitation, which does not allow us to have a presence in every part of the country as nine commissioners, we came up with an innovative approach to engage the people on the ground to monitor adherence to the Peace Pledge as part of their everyday activity,” she said.
The framework for monitoring looks at aspects related to hate speech, politically motivated violence, inter-party and intra-party conflict among others.
Comm Ndoro said the peace message has been widely embraced as shown by the peaceful pre-election period.
“The peace message is spreading and is being appreciated by our people.
“You can see presidential candidates and aspiring House of Assembly members and councillors are preaching the message of peace,” she said.
She said the process of nation building was a continuous one.
“Participants during the Peace Pledge signing ceremony expressed varying views on access to the media, violence and pasting of posters on private property among other topical issues.
President Mnangagwa pledged to deliver a peaceful election since his inauguration which has widely resonated with the population.
Chiefs in Mashonaland West province recently commended the prevailing peace saying it was unprecedented in the history of the country’s electoral process.
Local, regional and international observers have been invited to observe the elections and several teams including the European Union, SADC, African Union and the Commonwealth have arrived ahead of the elections today.
Online Reporter