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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The Second Republic has ushered in a new social order grounded on trust and tolerance of divergent views, Vice President Kembo Mohadi has said.
VP Mohadi said this while delivering a lecture on the contribution of national healing and reconciliation to national security at the Zimbabwe National Defence University yesterday.
He said national healing and reconciliation were key in the attainment of development and national security.
“It is in my opinion that the proverbial Tsunami of November 2017 has heightened the search for a new national consciousness and the forging of a new social order, grounded on mutual trust, respect for the law and tolerance for different views and culture,” VP Mohadi said.
“The expression of this desire is further articulated in our foreign policy of engagement and re-engagement. At the national level, this policy can be considered as an appeal by the leadership to unite people.”
He said the changing political environment in the country offered an opportunity to evaluate the past and the quest for enduring national values beyond temporary narrow and self-serving interests.
“Healing and reconciliation are key to any meaningful national development and national security. It is therefore incumbent on all sectors of a modern African State to invest in ideas and principles that enhance healing and peace that will result in national security,” he said.
The Vice President said President Mnangagwa signed the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Act into law in 2018 in line with Constitutional provisions as a sign of his commitment to the national healing process.
Government has also anchored its foreign policy on re-engaging Western countries that has resulted in high-level talks being held with the European Union.
“Healing is considered as a process of restoring broken relationships from an uBuntu-African perspective. This is because to the African, there should be always equilibrium in the continuous cycle of life,” he said.
VP Mohadi added that peace, security and economic development were intertwined with statistics showing that over the last six decades GDP growth had been three times higher in peaceful countries than in those experiencing conflict.
“Foreign Direct Investment inflows are more than two times higher in countries with higher levels of peace. An increase with positive peace was associated with an appropriation in the domestic currency between 2010 and 2016,” he said.
VP Mohadi also said an increase in conflict and social instability resulted in a direct rise in security spending depreciates scarce public resources.
Online Reporter