By Princess Mapona (Staff Writer)
The Presidential Spokesperson George Charamba said the Government will maintain peace at whatever cost as violent protests affected the ‘Open for Business’ mantra resulting in President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s decision to return home abandoning the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
In a radio interview today with Capitalk FM George Charamba said, “President ED Mnangagwa’s investment proposal was turned down by a Belgian investor because of the political, social and economic unrest that took place in Zimbabwe from 14 to 16 January 2019 during his five nation business trip”.
The Belgian investor said ‘Mr President I don’t put my money in a country which is unstable, I don’t put my money in a county where law and order is not assured, I have to look at the authority of the state can it secure my investments, I look at the judiciary can it arbitrate in the event of difficulties, can I look at the general working environment to say can my workers come to work and go back home to come back again’. “he added.
The purpose of “peace making” is because investors need peace more than anything, the government will do anything like shutting down the internet, mobilizing security authorities whenever needed. This will be done in an effort to maintain peace and create an investor friendly environment with convenient working conditions, reliable security authorities and reliable laws that protect the investors and foreign business partners.
Moreover, Charamba urged Zimbabweans not to challenge the authority of the state or embark on violent actions during protests as it will drive the government and security forces into some actions that will harm the ordinary citizens as a way of peace making.
“Don’t ever get into a situation where you equate demonstrations with violence or equate demonstrations with challenging the authority of the state because once that happen we are drifting in an uncharted territory where only the fittest survive,” he said.
During the January 14 to 16 violent protests, the government deployed a dozen of security forces to brutally stop the protests which resulted in the torture of civilians.
