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Takudzwa Chiwereweshe and Chipo Katsidzira
GOVERNMENT has commended churches and other faith-based organisations for preaching peace as the country heads for harmonised elections on July 30. Speaking at a meeting organised by the Council of Churches in Mutare last week, Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs Cde Monica Mutsvangwa said as political leaders they were pleased to see churches and other faith-based organisations playing a role in ensuring peace.

“Increased dialogue and engagement between politicians and the electorate is important, as it will guide various electoral stakeholders on the direction to take during this period.

“We therefore expect that dialogue will amplify the call for informed dialogue and engagement, as well as direct the various electoral stakeholders on what to pay particular attention to before, during and after the elections,” she said.

She appealed to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and other players to fully play their part in preserving and protecting the will of the people.

Minister Mutsvangwa challenged the Zimbabwe Council for Churches (ZCC) and other ecumenical bodies to pray for peace and tolerance.

ZCC advocacy and governance assistant officer Mr Rugare Kozanai also urged political candidates to engage the electorate, before, during and after the elections and come up with practical solutions to issues affecting them.

“According to a report that we have, which was informed by a survey we carried out in two areas in the Midlands and Bulawayo and from the sampling method we used, we identified that the electorate has diminished trust in political parties, key institutions and the media.

“We carried out the survey in Midlands because it is the area with the highest number of registered voters and Bulawayo province because it has recorded the lowest number of registered voters.

“The loss of confidence is because in previous elections most candidates abandoned the electorate as soon as they were sworn into office so individuals and key institutions need to work towards restoring public confidence through regular engagements and consultations,” he said.

He challenged both public and private media to be non-partisan and grant equal access to all political candidates.
“One of our findings is that 27 percent of people trust public media while 28 percent have confidence in private media with the majority of people regarding social media as providing factual and balanced information compared to the two,” said Mr Kozanai.