BY MOSES MATENGA/GARIKAI MAFIRAKUREVA/HARRIET CHIKANDIWA OPPOSITION MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa (pictured) has challenged President Emmerson Mnangagwa to stop violence in the country, arbitrary arrests, abductions and torture of civilians under his watch as such atrocities have rendered Unity Day “irrelevant”. This came as Mnangagwa, in his Unity Day speech emphasised peace-building and conflict resolution and management, saying that they must remain a binding feature of the national development agenda. “Where there are differences we must aim to settle and resolve them through dialogue and engagement. My administration has the political will and boldness to confront the past to bring about healing and closure,” Mnangagwa said. “I am encouraged by the successes we are scoring towards building greater national cohesion and singleness of purpose informed by the lessons from disturbances which characterised the early years of independence.” But Chamisa in his Unity Day statement yesterday, criticised Mnangagwa’s administration, saying that it had caused too many divisions, violence, hatred, “and evil that has not been seen in many years”. “Unity Day has become meaningless without the practice of unity. It has become a reminder of the orgy of violence, intolerance and hate speech that continue to engulf our nation,” Chamisa said. He said under Mnangagwa, hundreds of MDC Alliance supporters had been tortured, arrested and harassed, while the democratic space had shrunk to unprecedented levels. “We note with disdain an increase in abductions and torture against its citizens including young female leaders such as Netsai Marowa, Cecillia Chimbiri and Joanah Mamombe (Harare West MP),” Chamisa said. He said it was worrying that hundreds of MDC Alliance leaders remained in detention, including Harare mayor Jacob Mafume, Last Maengahama and Tungamirai Madzokere. “The consistent and persistent denial of citizens’ rights depicts the character of covert violence meted out on political opponents by those in charge of State institutions,” the opposition leader said. In 2020, there were several allegations of abductions and torture of MDC Alliance activists and journalists with most of the human rights violations happening during the COVID-19-induced lockdown period. “The bold font of divisions, destruction, violence and anarchy continue to override the voices of love, unity, peace, and development in our beloved Zimbabwe. We need unity, peace and prayer to heal our nation. Peace and unity are the necessary ingredients for development and upliftment. Without peace and unity there can be no enjoyment of the fundamental freedoms and rights that all peoples are entitled to,” he said. Chamisa said unity did not mean criminalising diversity and alternative views, or “tyranny from the centre”. The MDC Alliance leader said violence against one another was intolerable. “The harassment, intimidation, illegal arrest of opposition leaders, activists, and professionals is repugnant to unity and peace. We see how professionals and citizens