On 14 July 2018, Heal Zimbabwe in collaboration with Women Institute for Leadership Development (WILD), Emtonjeni Women’s Forum (EWF), Habakkuk Trust, Christian Alliance, National Youth Development Trust (NYDT), and Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) launched a Get out and Vote campaign in Bulawayo. The objective of the campaign is to mobilize citizens to go out and vote on 30 July 2018 and upholding peace and political tolerance. The campaign launch saw several artists taking part in a peace concert where they also added their voice on the need for peace and tolerance ahead of the 2018 elections. The concert was attended by approximately 5000 people mainly youths.
Before the concert commenced, a representative from Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) took time explain the process of voting and emphasized on the secrecy of the ballot. This helped dispel rumours that characterize the voting process. The major highlight of the concert was when aspiring candidates pledged for peace and vowed to play their part in ensuring that the 2018 elections will be peaceful. The aspiring candidates also encouraged community members to exercise political tolerance and highlighted that this was critical especially during campaigns.”As aspiring candidates let’s encourage our supporters to uphold peace and tolerance. Building peace must be everyone’s responsibility”, said one aspiring candidate. Ordinary citizens particularly youths from various political parties also pledged for peace and vowed to shun violence as elections draw closer.
The launch in Bulawayo come at a time when the organization has intensified its campaigns on peace by using various initiatives such as Sports for Peace Tournaments, collaborative neutral platforms (nhimbes) and peace concerts in a bid to raise awareness on the need for peace. These campaigns seek to mobilize citizens to commit and play an active role in ensuring that peace prevails before, during and after the 2018 elections.
Source: Heal Zimbabwe
