Letters to the Editor The crusade all Zimbabweans must embrace

HUN violence, embrace the round table.”

The above is a silent message etched on the lips of every patriotic and peace-loving Zimbabwean but which congenital objectionists, including some of the political opposition, will dismiss as a non-starter.

But if truth be told, it is these same pessimists who are a non-starter in the national dialogue discourse that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has given a huge push with the Church weighing in to catalyse it to unite our people as one nation with one destiny, a brave new future, regardless of different political persuasions espoused.

Not only will a successful dialogical crusade act as a fillip to the recovery and further development of our fractured economy as a result of Western economic sanctions; a successful national dialogue will project a global image of a united and peace-loving people deserving financial and moral support by the rest of the world.

A sustained national round-table conversation such as the one now underway in our country should also give clarity and more confidence to the political opposition that are often driven by a penchant for violence as a way of cutting corners in their bid for power and power at any cost.

A fruitful round-table conversation will show that even in the most mature democracies those in power and the opposition do swap buttons at a given time and that the exchange is also inevitable even in tyrannies or dictatorships where violence or some other nonpeaceful means will often cause a change in such governments.

The critical matter in point in this discourse is that people who love their country should never, ever resort to violence to put right what they perceive as being wrong in their society.

Such blind solutions open the door for intervention by foreign powers with an axe to grind.

Which means that when opposition political parties get into power riding on the back of foreign powers they become stoogies or puppets who will always dance to the tunes of the contemporary imperialists who put them in power.

Now, the national dialogue gathering momentum should cascade down to rural communities so that Zimbabweans at every structure of our society are at one in the quest for peace and unity as engines for national development, economically, socially and politically.

In particular, the youth who are often used as knobkerries by political parties against their opponents in their contest for the hearts and minds of ordinary Zimbabweans, should be made to realise that violence, such as that which recently resulted in the destruction of properties and lives serves as a drawback to national cohesion and successful development economically and socially for Zimbabwe as one nation.

That “violence always begets violence” is the message that young people as well as gullible and ignorant adults must make part of their lives so that they are not abused as cats’ paws by power hungry people.

The active involvement of the Church in the current national dialogue is unarguably the most exciting development in the country to date.

A breakfast prayer service for Zimbabwe’s national leadership hosted by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches in Harare two days ago is indeed an exciting development for our country and should give more impetus to national development to achieve its goals of unity and the fear of God among those in leadership roles.

Some might say the Church’s involvement was belated.

Well, they are entitled to their own opinion, but the saying “better late than never” should put their worries to rest.

The Church is the Almighty’s tower-light to illuminate the way for God-fearing people on their life journey through this carnal world and into an eternal season of joy with the Lord but minus the devil and his condemned ilk.

In particular national leaders in our society as in any other society must be made to realise that they are and remain in power by God’s grace to fulfil the good governance commitment.

Therefore, the Church should help political and other national leaders to know that God watches every step they take in fulfilling their leadership roles.