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Manicaland Correspondent
THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) has launched the Manicaland provincial peace committee which will be responsible for peace building in the province.

The launch was held at Manica Skyview in Mutare on Friday, and saw the election of Mr Solomon Mungure and Mrs Getrude Chimanye as the deputy chairpersons for the NPRC peace committee for Manicaland.

The committee is chaired by Commissioner Patience Chiradza.

NPRC last month embarked on a nationwide outreach to share with the public mechanisms and approaches that will be used in handling national healing issues and the idea of Provincial Peace Committees is one of the vehicles being used to further the initiative.

Speaking at the launch, Minister of State for Manicaland Affairs Dr Ellen Gwaradzimba hailed people in the province for being peaceful despite influence from external forces.

“Manicaland is a very peaceful province despite other external influences that may want to cause conflict,” she said.

“I am excited to see the inclusivity in this provincial peace committee with representation from academia, youth, women, traditional leadership, business community, political players among others. The establishment of a peace committee is a big relief in my office. I would like to express my gratitude and congratulate the NPRC for coming up with this initiative which serves to bring our people together by creating harmony and sustainable peace.”

Dr Gwaradzimba said peace should be a priority in order to achieve Vision 2030.

“The achievement of peace and harmony among us is a necessary condition to move towards achieving Vision 2030: of an upper middle income economy by December 2030,” she said.

“It goes without saying that peace and tranquillity are cornerstones of achieving this vision.”

Dr Gwaradzimba advised all stakeholders to be serious about peace building.

“I urge you to take issues of peace building seriously, without peace there is no development,” she said.

Commissioner Chiradza said the Commission set committees throughout all provinces.

“This is a multi-stakeholder committee that the NPRC is setting up throughout the provinces which comprises of different stakeholders from the province, political parties, civil societies, churches, Muslim communities, businesses, traditional leaders, people living with disabilities among others, coming together to be able to look at conflict issues that the province is facing and be able to come up with solutions,” she said.

Commissioner Chiradza hailed the involvement of Minister Gwaradzimba’s office.

“We were so honoured to have the Minister of State for Manicaland coming in to witness this occasion and we have seen the commitment of her office to peace building and conflict resolution within the province,” she said.