Youths in Zaka have called for the preservation of peace and tolerance even after elections. This came out during a Sport for Peace Tournament held in Zaka ward 19 on the 14th of December 2018 organised by a Community Action Accountability Teams (CAATs) established by a community that works with Heal Zimbabwe in Zaka.
The tournament afforded youths from the area an opportunity to conduct an assessment of the July 2018 elections with special focus on issues of political violence and built social cohesion among the youths. The tournament was attended by a total of 300 people (majority being women and youths) Members from the Zimbabwe Republic Police who attended the tournament commended youths for shunning political violence during and after the 2018 elections and highlighted that they recorded limited cases of violence during the elections.”This tournament is a positive step as it helps build unity and peace among the youths. This year we recorded fewer cases of politically related violence. To the youths, we say thank you for shunning violence “he said.
Ward 39 Councillor, Peter Imbayarwo also weighed in and commended the youths for embracing peace and tolerance during the 2018 elections.”I would like to thank the youths for being peaceful and tolerant during the elections. The police must also be commended for working hand in glove with various stakeholders in ensuring that peace prevails”, he said. In the soccer category, Zaka United scooped the trophy while Unique Queens won in the netball category.
The sports for reconciliation tournament come at a time when CAATs are embarking on door to door campaign raising awareness on peace and tolerance after the 2018 elections. A CAAT is a safe space group of women and youths from diverse religious, political and socio-economic backgrounds working together to build peace and demand social accountability from duty bearers.
The tournaments are also part of Heal Zimbabwe national peace campaign, 13 Million Voices for Peace that seeks to encourage citizens to embrace peace and shun violence even after the 2018 elections.
Source: Heal Zimbabwe
