By JULIUS PHIRI, STEVEN ZANDE and MUNAMBEZA MUWANEI –
GERMAN Ambassador to Zambia Bernd Finke has welcomed the efforts of Zambia’s Church mother bodies to facilitate dialogue among political parties to bring to an end isolated cases of political violence in the country.

. FINKE

Mr Finke said yesterday that it was encouraging that party leaders came together to talk to each other instead of talking about each other.
“I strongly hope that political leaders’ commitment to a peaceful political dialogue and free, fair and peaceful elections will go hand-in-hand with a policy of zero-tolerance towards those who consider violence as a means of political campaigning and discourse,” he said.
The German envoy said political violence manifested itself not only through physical assaults, but implied hate speech and other forms of intimidation.
“We need a political culture which accepts diversity and freedom of expression and assembly as indispensable cornerstones of a democracy.
“Those who commit acts of political violence do not only jeopardise life and limbs of their fellow human beings and betray Zambia’s pledge of being a Christian Nation.
“They also severely damage Zambia’s hitherto excellent international reputation as a peace-loving and stable country, thus deterring international investors and tourists,” Mr Finke said.
The Zambia Centre for Inter-party Dialogue (ZCID) also praised the political parties that attended the inter-party talks on violence hosted by the clergy.
ZCID urged political parties to respect the resolutions that were agreed upon at the indaba on Tuesday for political violence to end.
ZCID executive director Horrance Chilando said in an interview that the parties should put into action their pledge to end violence.
“We expect political leaders to be above board and give the Zambian people a free and fair electoral process which will enable them to vote without any form of intimidation,” Mr Chilando said.
Meanwhile, chiefs in Southern Province have welcomed the indaba and called on the citizenry to be peaceful.
Chief Mukobela of Namwala said the initiative by the Church was a good spirit, adding that the attendance by the political party leaders was an indication of maturity.
“This has shown that the political parties are fighting for one common good of developing this nation. It has shown maturity and that the country has leaders,” he said.
Chief Mukobela called on the police to punish perpetrators of violence and owners of motor vehicles that transport cadres to attack members of the public.
“Violence is a crime and owners of the vehicles involved in the transportation of these violent cadres should also be held accountable,” the traditional leader said.
Chief Sinazongwe of Sinazongwe District, in welcoming the meeting, urged the youth to be peaceful because the country defeated violence at independence in 1964.
“It’s not necessary to be fighting each other, this country is above 50 years. We defeated violence in 1964 and why should we continue fighting each other?” he said.
Chiefs Mukobela and Sinazongwe were among the recently-elected representatives of the House of Chiefs in Southern Province.