By Chengeto Chidi
The ruling party ZANU-PF has urged people to report incidents of political violence to the police.
This was said at a courtesy call by the Zimbabwe Council of Churces with the ruling party.
Speaking at an engagement yesterday at the party’s headquarters in Harare the ZANU-PF Secretary General Obert Mpofu in repose to a question raised by a journalist concerning post-election retribution and violence, shared that
“Those isolated incidents are incidents that we have not been informed about as a party but they seem to also revolve around criminality,” he said.
He also went on to say that citizens should treat them as such and report the incidents to the police,
“If people have been assaulted or beaten up it’s a matter for the police to deal with but we haven’t been informed about such incidents,” Mpofu said.
This comes after Citizens Coalition for Change Councillor for Glen Norah Ward 27 Womberaishe Nhende and Sanele Mukuhlani are still receiving treatment after they were involved in a case of political violence and had their lawyers arrested.
Mpofu also justified the election following dispute saying that they were free and fair as indicated by the inauguration
“Looking at the elections themselves, they have been certified as free and fair, hence the inauguration and the appointment of the new government,” he said.
Leadership of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches had paid a courtesy call after the recently held harmonised elections to exchange views with ZANU-PF on the general conduct of elections.
The engagement was on discussing the election and not reviewing it.
General Secretary for the Zimbabwe Council of Churches Rev Wilfred Dimingu shared that the call was meant unite the people in an effort to build the nation .
“Our request as a church to come meet with the leadership of ZANU-PF is in line with our mandate as a church to ensure that we walk together and accompany our national political leaders in nation building issues,” he shared.
He also shared that the country needs to move on post election to engage in issues that will bring Zimbabweans together
“We are just coming out of the harmonised elections and as a country we need to move on to unite the nation and to walk together,” Dimingu said.
In areas where the church can participate in nation building issues and to unite the Zimbabweans as a nation.
Over the years the Zimbabwe Council of Churches (ZCC) as an ecumenical body that represents various Christian denominations in Zimbabwe has played an important role in advocating for peace, justice, and reconciliation in the country. The ZCC has often been critical of the ZANU-PF, the ruling party in Zimbabwe, and its policies. The ZCC has called for dialogue between the government and opposition parties, and has spoken out against human rights violations and political violence.