In a rare show of unity and tolerance, women and youth league members from Zimbabwe governing parties put their differences aside and came together to clean up streets in the Midland's capital Gweru Thursday.
Clad in their parties’ regalia and singing non-partisan songs, some youths and women from the two Movement for Democratic Change formations and ZANU-PF joined hands to clean up Gweru’s main street, one of the city’s major roads.
Senior provincial members of the three political parties were also in attendance. The clean-up was organized by the Midlands branch of the Joint Operation Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC) in collaboration with the three parties.
Political commissar Christopher Takavarasha Mabhiza of ZANU-PF said such an initiative will help promote tolerance in a polarized community.
"We are showing them there must be tolerance and we are all working toward a positive Zimbabwe," said Mabhiza.
Midlands south chairman Mdumo Moyo of the MDC formation of Welshman Ncube praised the initiative.
Lillian Timveos the provincial chair for the MDC formation of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said the exercise is meant to help spread the message of peaceful co-existence in the country following the 2008 bloody elections.
Timveos, also the current provincial JOMIC chair, said such activities should be encouraged to influence the behavior of grassroot supporters against fighting each other.
"I'm actually realizing that this clean-up campaign has achieved a lot," said Timveos. "Because you can hear them singing, there are happy with each other even the people on the streets were looking, and wondering what is the ZANU-PF, MDC doing together.
JOMIC is a tripartite committee set up by the three governing parties to monitor the implementation of the Global Political Agreement, in particular dealing with violence issues around the country.
But along with the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, JOMIC has been accused of not doing enough to rid the nation of political violence.
