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Only the vote can change our lives: Murehwa political violence victims
say
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
September 20, 2011
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition held a community meeting in Zaranyika
Village, Murehwa on Saturday 17 September 2011. The meeting was
attended by 49 people (27 men and 22 women). The purpose of the
meeting was to give the public an opportunity to assess the constitution
making process thus far and to input into the current election
discourse. In the same vein, the meeting focused mainly on voter
registration and participation of citizens in the next election.
Political violence was discussed at length since Murehwa was one
of the volatile areas during the 29th of March
and June 2008 elections.
Issues raises
were as follows:
- The inclusive
government should quicken the finalization of the constitutional;
review process
- Traditional
leaders should remain true to helping the community and should
undertake their duties in a non-partisan manner.
- Politicians
should stop abusing the youths by giving them handouts to commit
acts of violence but should empower the youths by creating platforms
for wealth creation.
- Elections
should only be held once the playing field has been leveled and
Zimbabweans must be allowed to choose a leader of their choice
without fear.
- Police should
not interfere with the voting process at polling stations and
should only be present for purposes of providing security.
- All those
who committed acts of politically motivated violence should be
prosecuted and this should start with those who played a part
during the Gukurahundi massacres.
- People are
concerned by the ever presence of the military in communities
and they were regarded as MDC supporters by traditional leaders
in the area.
Participants
also made the following recommendations:
- Communities
should form voter clubs and protect each other from perpetrators
of violence.
- Community
leaders and members of the community should register as voters
in preparation for the next elections as this will stop uncouth
political parties from stealing the people's vote.
- The Coalition
should provide short wave radio gadgets so that community members
can listen to unbiased news on Zimbabwe.
- The Coalition
should continue to supply information on voter registration and
the electoral road map and conduct more confidence building workshops
to soldier members of communities on.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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