Youths in Gokwe have vowed to shun political violence and participate in this year’s elections peacefully. This came out during a Sports for Peace tournament conducted by a community peace club that works with Heal Zimbabwe in Gokwe South at Svisvi Primary school on 7 July 2018.
The Sports for peace tournament brought together 10 soccer teams and 4 netball teams that battled it out for the coveted peace cup. Before the tournament kicked off, aspiring candidates took to the podium and took turns to pledge to uphold peace and tolerance before, during and after the 2018 elections. The major highlight of the tournament was when the captains of the participating teams vowed to continue to use sport as a tool to build peace and tolerance as elections draw close. “Thank you Heal Zimbabwe for conducting sports for peace tournaments in our area since 2015.Over the years we have improved our relations and tolerance levels even with teams that we did not get along too well because of different political affiliations. We will continue conducting these Sports for peace tournaments on our own to help preach message of peace”, said one of the team captains.
Community members who attended the sports tournament also echoed the youths’ sentiments on the need to preach the message of peace and further promised to support the youth’s to achieve such a goal. The sport tournament was conducted under the banner of Heal Zimbabwe’s National Peace Campaign, #13MillionVoicesForPeace, a campaign that seeks to campaign and advocate for peaceful 2018 elections. The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness on peace and tolerance ahead of the 2018 elections.
Heal Zimbabwe will utilize the peace pledges by youths to hold them accountable in the event that they perpetrate violence. The Sports for peace campaign by Heal Zimbabwe come at a time when the organization has intensified its campaign for peace by using sports for peace tournaments and peace concerts in a bid to disperse message of peace and tolerance ahead of the elections. To date the organization has conducted such initiatives in areas such as Murehwa, Chipinge, Mutoko, Zaka, Rushinga, Tsholotsho and other areas.
Source: Heal Zimbabwe