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You and I can make peace happen
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
September 10, 2010

Deputy Prime Minister, Honorable Thokozani Knupe officiated the launch of a Peace Building and Transitional Justice Project on the 31st August 2010 at the Belgravia Sports Club in Harare. The event was organized by Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR), Centre for Community Development in Zimbabwe (CCDZ), Catholic Commission Justice Peace (CCJP) and Victim Action Committee (VAC), a consortium of the leading organizations to the initiative. Over one hundred stakeholders attended the function representing various sections of the community. The occasion was also graced by the Co-Minister of Home Affairs Honorable Theresa Makoni.

The launch comes at a historic time when the nation is poised to transform from the past legacies of man-made crises into a more transparent and accountable leadership devout from corruption and lack of integrity wrangles. Speaking to the gathering, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Honorable Thokozani Khupe challenged the people of Zimbabwe to join hands and remove the barriers created by party politics, stigmatization, gender and race stereo types towards building a peaceful conductive environment to enable economic growth. She said "without respect for human rights there is no freedom, there is no human dignity, no justice, no fairness or liberation to talk about."

Honorable Khupe also reiterated that for Zimbabwe to move forward there is need for unity among Zimbabweans. She also pin pointed that credibility; respect and trust are pertinent values to be earned for a genuine national healing process to take place. The Co-Minister of Home Affairs, Honorable Theresa Makoni noted that the coalition government was a compromise set up in which people should locate opportunities to forge ahead to bring real change.

Speaking to the media, ROHR Zimbabwe director Tichanzii Gandanga said the initiative was aimed to encourage the nation to assume deliberate efforts in achieving peace and building bridges into the future to a national vision cemented on democratic principles, respect for human rights, justice, tolerance, core existence and cohesion. He emphasized that peace is an individual effort and inevitable responsibility regardless of political affiliation.

Prime Minister Richard Morgan Tsvangirai together with human rights lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa, Alec Muchadehama and constitution lawyer and expert Lovemore Madhuku were honored for their outstanding contributions in defending human rights, people's freedoms and promoting peace. The awards were a token to honor some of the unsung heroes of the struggle for human rights and democratic space.

The launch of the peace building initiative marks a lifetime journey towards broking strategic relationships among the major stakeholders to peace building with the aim of peace building skills building, raising awareness in peace building and national healing. DPM Khupe applauded the directors of the consortium who are Alois Chaumba, Fortune Muchuchuti, Philip Pasirai and Tichanzii Gandanga for bringing key stakeholders together on peace initiatives.

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