THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has acknowledged political violence perpetrated by the ruling Zanu PF party on the MDC Alliance led by Nelson Chamisa, but said it would not launch an inquiry on the matter as it has not yet received a formal complaint.
This was disclosed by NPRC deputy chairperson Lilian
Chigwedere yesterday on the sidelines of the commission’s preventive dialogue
meeting held in Harare.
Chigwedere’s utterances follow reports by Chamisa’s MDC
Alliance that its leader survived an assassination attempt during his visit to
Mutare last month, while his convoy was attacked in Masvingo and Nyanga where
he had gone to conduct rural outreach programmes to garner support ahead of the
2023 elections.
Zanu PF acting spokesperson Mike Bimha has denied the
alleged attacks, while acting party political commissar Patrick Chinamasa
claimed that Chamisa was attacked because he provoked Zanu PF supporters by
encroaching into their territory.
Chigwedere told NewsDay that the NPRC investigation team
was on standby and could not immediately act on the matter without a complaint
having been lodged with the commission.
She, however, acknowledged that there were political
conflicts between Zanu PF and the opposition MDC Alliance.
“With regards to elections, these discussions we are having
here are meant to come up with different ways of dealing with election-related
conflicts. With regards to the clashes,
that is a conflict that is already taking place. As a commission, the way we
work is that we send our investigation team to find out what is exactly taking
place.
“While we are doing this (discussions), we are in the
process of getting a team. But our team usually goes to do investigations if
there have been reports made to the commission. We just don’t say there is a
conflict and rush to do investigations. No one has come to the commission with
a complaint. We are just hearing it from the media, but as a commission, we are
just putting our team on standby.”
She said there was need for the NPRC, together with peace
committee members, to work towards curtailing recurrence of political violence
in the country.
“Currently, there was an increasing shift in focus on the
2023 elections. In order to guarantee
non-recurrence of perennial election-related conflicts, the onus is on you to
engage robustly and deliberately in preventive dialogues with all stakeholders,
to ensure that re-emergence of past experiences are curtailed.
“The setting up of peace committees to contribute towards the promotion of peace
through dialogue, mediation and conciliation of disputes among communities,
individuals and groups as well as the implementation of programmes deemed
necessary for the prevention of conflicts all fall squarely with the
constitutional mandate of the NPRC.”
Chigwedere urged government and citizens to work together
to end political conflict.
Meanwhile, in a speech read on her behalf by her deputy
director Kumbirayi Chimusoro at the NPRC event, Mashonaland East Provincail
Affairs minister Aplonia Munzverengi raised concern over the recurrence of
election violence in the country.
She urged the NPRC to facilitate grassroots dialogue to
promote peaceful elections.
“As you are aware, the country is now geared up for the election period and it is
my hope that the peace committees will take the necessary preventative
measures to facilitate local level
dialogue on how to deal with the
cyclical electoral violence, uncertainties and contestations usually associated with our
county’s elections,” she said. Newsday
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