Staff Reporter

President Emmerson Mnangagwa reiterated his clarion call for peaceful elections while addressing senior security officers at a private function in Harare on Friday, 17 March 2023.

The officers were challenged to preserve and uphold peace before, during and after the 2023 Harmonized General Elections.

President Mnangagwa indicated that he had bestowed the responsibility to ensure that the upcoming Harmonized General Elections are held in the utmost peaceful environment to the country’s security services. He added that regime change proponents and their financiers were espousing subtle mechanisms and machinations to disturb Zimbabwe’s democratic processes in a bid to create an impression that the polls have been carried out in an unbefitting environment.

He thus ordered the officers to be resolute in sniffing out, apprehending and prosecuting malcontents that were bent on stirring anarchy. President Mnangagwa added that there was no place for violence in Zimbabwe and that those found wanting should be accounted for.

President Mnangagwa called for a fair recruitment criteria which is inclusive and reflective of every ethnic group in Zimbabwe; adding that it dovetails with Government’s ‘leaving no one and no place behind’ mantra. He pledged to continue improving the welfare of members of the security services and that of the generality of the civil servants.

The President indicated that the country was on course to achieving an Upper Middle Income economy status by 2030 saying that all the modalities were in place.

President Mnangagwa’s call comes at a time the ruling Party, ZANU PF is carrying out a verification exercise for thousands of aspiring candidates who submitted their resumes for consideration in the upcoming primary elections. The primaries were postponed after an overwhelming response by Party members.