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(SUNDAY MAIL ZW) Peace and love in 2013 — President

Peace and love in 2013 — President
Sunday, 23 December 2012 00:00
Wadzanai Bara and Kuda Bwititi

President Mugabe has urged Zimbabweans to uphold unity saying the nation should use this festive season to reflect on the need to denounce violence ahead of the 2013 harmonised elections.

The President said the most important duty left for the inclusive Government, whose tenure effectively lapses next year, was to deliver a peaceful, free and fair plebiscite.

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Mail at State House last Friday, Cde Mugabe, who was in high spirits, emphasised the need for a violence-free festive season.



“To the people of Zimbabwe, I would like to say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. But a Merry Christmas can only be merry when there is no violence,” he said.



He encouraged Zimbabweans to “strengthen their resolve” and ensure a peaceful 2013 that is characterised by violence-free elections.



“We should find ways of achieving them (free and fair elections) and that then would mark the totality of these achievements and progress by our own nation.



“So, let us, therefore, strengthen our resolve to work harder in the New Year; we should strengthen our resolve to make our unity succeed and also strengthen our resolve to have peaceful relations in 2013.



“We want to look back and say our inclusive Government was indeed a producer of an election that has been very peaceful and violence-free and very productive because the Government that came out of it is a Government of a people that has learnt their lessons from a people that was united and a people that moved progressively ahead.”



The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, who was with First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe and two of their children, Bona and Bellarmine Chatunga, encouraged Zimbabweans to spend Christmas with their families.



He said unity among family members makes the festive season more joyous.
“A Merry Christmas can only be a joyful Christmas if there’s unity of families; the love between father and mother and the children, a love between people living together, a love between all of us,” he said.



The President said Zimbabwe, which commemorated Unity Day yesterday, should jealously guard the Unity Accord signed between Zanu and Zapu to form Zanu-PF in 1987.



He said the accord should be a symbol of the harmony that Zimbabweans should pursue.
Zimbabweans should also take the Christmas period to reflect on their successes while looking forward to successfully completing programmes that were not completed in 2012, he added.



“It should be love amongst all Zimbabweans and it should also be remembered that Christmas comes at the end of the year and it should be a time to remember what achievements or lack of them we have made throughout the year and try to look ahead in order for us to continue with those things, or shall I call them projects or programmes that remain uncompleted and complete them as they spill over into 2013.”



Turning to his plans for Christmas and the New Year, the President said he is likely to visit China with his family and thereafter begin his annual leave.



He will also mark the beginning of 2013 by celebrating the academic achievements of Bona, who is set to complete her Masters Degree in Accounting.



“I am going to have a bit of a holiday and I am going to travel, possibly to China,” he said adding that he would probably come back home around mid-January.

Labels: CHRISTMAS, NEW YEAR, ROBERT MUGABE

posted by MrK @ 5:44 PM