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Perpetrators of violence share platform with victims
Movement for Democratic Change
July 21, 2010

Alleged purveyors and victims of violence today assembled for the first time at a historic meeting in Harare when the national executive of the MDC, the Zanu PF politburo and the executive of the political formation led by Professor Arthur Mutambara met to discuss issues of violence and national healing in the country.

The three-hour meeting, convened by the National Organ on Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, was aimed at ensuring that the three political parties adhere to Article Three and Article 18 of the GPA which urge all parties to shun violence and to promote national healing.

The consensus at the meeting was that the leadership of the parties, as represented by the executive organs, must ensure that the environment on the ground is violence-free and that it is conducive to national healing. Delegates agreed that there could be no healing without justice and compensation and that the police must arrest all perpetrators of violence in order to kill the festering culture of impunity that has destabilized peace and compromised security of persons in Zimbabwe.

The delegates agreed on the establishment of an Inter-Party-Organ on Dialogue ( IPOD) where all parties create a platform at provincial, district, ward and village level to deliberate on issues of violence and create the basis for truth-telling and national healing in the country. It was agreed that both the perpetrator and the victim must tell their stories if there is to be proper national healing in the country.

The media, especially the ZBC and the Herald, also came under attack as merchants of hate speech and divisions. The delegates agreed that hate speech and divisive language helped fan the culture of violence and made healing almost impossible.

Addressing the inter-party delegates, MDC secretary-general Hon Tendai Biti said the meeting was historic and created hope for nation-building.

"Zimbabweans are trying to find each other and this meeting is historic and ground-breaking. No nation can develop if it is arrested by the turpitude of violence and intolerance. The challenge is to turn today's spirit into tangible action on the ground by making sure that no Zimbabwean attacks or kills another Zimbabwean on the basis of political affiliation," he said.

Professor Welshman Ncube and Zanu PF's Didymus Mutasa also addressed the delegates.

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