Peace Commission ready to roll, but . . .

THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) says it is ready to hit the ground running to fulfil its constitutional mandate, but the absence of the enabling Act is hampering its efforts.

Addressing delegates during the commission’s inaugural multi-stakeholder engagement meeting in Harare yesterday, NPRC deputy chairperson Mrs Lilian Chigwedere said the Bill was yet to be passed into law.

The first interface meeting brought together the business community, civic society, traditional leaders, political parties and other stakeholders.

Officially opening the meeting, Mrs Chigwedere said in the interim, the commission had started engaging stakeholders to hear their problems and to find ways of uniting Zimbabwe into one big peaceful family.

“When the commission was sworn in, it was like a man sent out into a thick forest to cut logs without an axe.

“The enabling Act was and is still not in place, though we understand that it now awaits assent by the President.

“. . . I want to assure you that we are ready to hit the ground running, borrowing the President’s words. This is why we have invited you to get the ball rolling,” said Mrs Chigwedere.

Mrs Chigwedere said the commission took advantage of the 2016-2020 Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework (ZUNDAF) and embarked on preliminary programmes on team building, developing regulations and organisational structures.

“The absence of the Act turned out to be a blessing for the commission as it took advantage of ZUNDAF to engage in team building, developing a common understanding of the mandate, developing regulations, organisational structures and systems,” she said.

Mrs Chigwedere said the commission was determined to serve and to ensure peace, love and harmony prevails in Zimbabwe.

“As a commission, we want to leave a legacy of a peaceful, reconciled, tolerant and cohesive nation that continues on the healing trajectory.

“Just like a flower garden where each flower blossoms fully, resulting in the beauty we see,” she said.

Mrs Chigwedere said the peaceful marches and unity exhibited by the nation in the past two weeks were testimony to the power of the old adage “United we stand, divided we fall”.

Speaking at the same meeting, Zanu-PF representative Cde Paul Mangwana advised the commission to start by identifying the real conflicts.

“We must have the factual basis of a conflict first. We must first be able to define the problem or conflict, whether we have a religious, cultural, political or any other type conflict,” he said.

MDC-T deputy national chairman Mr Morgan Komichi said former President Cde Robert Mugabe’s leadership was the one that instilled fear in the nation, thus creating conflict.

“(The) former Zimbabwe president used to instil fear among us politically and we must find ways of getting rid of that fear to create a peaceful environment.

“President Mnangagwa rightly stated at the National Sports Stadium last week that our politics was very poisonous.

“We should now cleanse the nation of that poison for national development,” said Mr Komichi.