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Mahusekwa villagers demand peace, freedom and unity
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
March 24, 2011

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition held a community meeting in Mahusekwa in Mashonaland East province on Saturday 19 March 2011. The meeting attracted up to 35 participants and addressed issues around COPAC outreach meetings update, the referendum, elections and the GNU. Participants castigate the Inclusive government for lack of a fair power sharing arrangement with President Robert Mugabe wielding excessive power compared to his counterparts in the coalition pact. Asked on what they thought about the GNU's performance in terms of the rule of law, they noted that it has failed as indicated by the unlawful arrests of MDC-T Members of Parliament and the ever-increasing human rights violations. Participants again lamented the GNU's failure to leave up to the expectations of many Zimbabweans and this was attributed to its reluctance in curbing corruption. Regardless of its failure, the Mahusekwa people however, applauded the inclusive government for improving service delivery, particularly in the health and education sector.

The Mahusekwa people raised serious concerns over the Anti-Sanctions petition campaign recently launched by ZANU-PF. Participants argued that the scheme is not a priority since ZANU-PF should first address the reasons why sanctions were imposed. More-so there are other pressing issues than the Anti-Sanctions campaign. They further noted that all they want is good governance, peace, freedom and unity. The overall view on the issue of elections was that the country is not yet ready for elections as reflected by the escalating violence.

Participants made the following recommendations to the government on elections:

• CSOs should constantly engage with communities to raise awareness
• CSOs should come up with more information dissemination channels as information is lacking in remote parts of Zimbabwe
• CSOs need to also bring more programs that involve the youths who are at high risks of intimidation and forced participation in violence
• CSOs should lastly come up with confidence building programs which assist in eroding fear of the unknown among villagers

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