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Chibuwe community leads by example
Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR)
February 02, 2011

Hundreds of villagers converged on Sunday the 30th of January at Chibuwe primary school in Chipinge district, Musikavanhu constituency to commemorate the peace day celebrations organized by the Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe (ROHR) under the banner of "You and I can make peace happen" peace building project. The maiden historic event in Chibuwe was attended by traditional leaders, councilors, headmasters, church leaders, teachers, health workers, business community, school children, youths, women and men from the country's various political parties.

Headman, Mutape Chibuwe chronicled the standing legacy of Chibuwe village that it has not opened up for any violent political activities since the days when ZANU Ndonga first introduced politics to the village. He said that as a Headman he has opened up his arms for every political party attending meetings when invited as a father but he remains neutral not taking up sides or discriminating on grounds of political affiliation.

Church leaders reinforced Mutape's position, pin-pointing that God's plan for all of humanity is peace, justice and freedom.

The crowd was treated to mouth watering poetry on peace, human trafficking and human rights by primary pupils from Chibuwe primary school. Mr Mashava, the headmaster of Chibuwe primary school challenged the parents to invest in education on their children. ''You should buy education, it is a worthy risky free lifetime investment '' he said.

Solidarity messages were heard from local civil society organizations, among them Platform for Youth Development (PYD) and National Constitution Assembly. The director of PYD Claris Madhuku said it was critical for the country to assume a youth centered approach on all developmental issues appreciating that the youths make up 67% of the population.

The Chibuwe peace commemoration is part of ROHR Zimbabwe's ongoing campaign to raise awareness on the inevitable need for peace building to create a transitional bridge from a legacy of violence which climaxed in 2008 to a democratic society build on sustainable peace, respect for people's rights and respect for the people's democratic right to chose leaders through the ballot. The peace building initiative places a greater responsibility on every individual emphasizing that peace begins with self before one can be a carrier to spread it to those surrounding him or herself.

The project realizes that political violence is one of the greatest threats to the prevalence of sustainable peace particularly during this turbulent period of political uncertainty and a possibility of elections in the near future. ROHR Zimbabwe is appealing to the coalition government to pay particular attention to all the key stakeholders of peace in the state and government structures that make up the difference. Topping the list of these stakeholders is the security forces who stand accused of being the architect and prime suspects responsible for the sponsored and organized engulfing election violence of 2008. We reiterate that the security forces should desist from being partisan and selective application of the law as this will only but feed into the spiraling culture of impunity.

As human rights defenders we still bemoan the lack of reforms on the Global Political Agreement to guarantee equality before the law and state security for the ordinary man regardless of political affiliation

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