Zimbabwean president preaches peace ahead of elections

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa once again implored Zimbabweans to remain peaceful, ahead of the July 30 general elections urging political parties and candidates to promote peace and unity.

In a message posted on social media on Wednesday, Mnangagwa said he was happy with the peace and tranquility prevailing in the country.

He said the coming elections should be a contest of ideas and should not degenerate into physical clashes.

“I wish to express to you my desire for us to have a peaceful election.

“You may be a Zanu-PF member or a member of an opposition political party, the crucial thing that we require of all our political parties is peace.’’

He urged fellow contestants to encourage the general public to elect whoever they wanted in peace.

“We must also encourage the general public to elect us in peace.

“Differences may be there, but those differences should be about ideas and one party saying they can execute them better than the other party. That is allowed.

“For now I’m quite pleased that so far we’ve not had any problem regarding our politics. All parties, brought together, are campaigning peacefully. My wish is for us to continue like that,’’ he said.

Previous elections have been fraught with violence between ruling Zanu-PF supporters and opposition parties, especially the MDC-T.