THE August 23 general elections were peaceful before, during and after demonstrating to the world that Zimbabwe is now a mature democracy.

Tomorrow, there are by-elections in a number of  parliamentary and municipal constituencies countrywide.

We are all concerned whether the peace that prevailed before, during and after the just ended general elections will be replicated.  

What is disturbing is that the elections were brought about as a result of internal disharmony within CCC .

Their secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu triggered the by-elections after recalling incumbent party representatives.

This did not go down well with Nelson Chamisa, who had initially handpicked the party candidates.

So right from the beginning there is bad blood between a faction that supports the secretary-general and that which rallies behind the party leader.

The CCC being an off shoot  of the MDC-T, we are afraid the internal cleavages might flare into an open fight.

This is especially so, since there are at least two opposing CCC candidates in almost all the constituencies.

History tells us that the  MDC, it doesn’t matter in whatever form, has violence as part of its DNA.

Their then deputy president Thokozani Khupe, escaped death by a whisker when she was nearly roasted to ash in a grass thatched hut at Morgan Tsvangirai’s funeral.

This followed the tussle to succeed  Tsvangirai between her and Chamisa.

But this was not all.

Back in 2014, then secretary-general Tendai Biti and then deputy treasury-general Elton Mangoma got a thorough beating by their own for calling for leadership renewal. 

Mangoma was left worse off with a bloody nose, broken spectacles and a tattered shirt.

Mind you these were cadres exacting this form of disciplinary measure on their own leaders because of internal differences.

We refer to these intra party factional battles because they are often misinterpreted by their Western handlers, who always want a way of bringing in ZANU PF as the scapegoat.

Instead it is outright speculative information the CCC circulates, especially on violence, which the West swallows hook, line and sinker. 

For instance, in the Mabvuku-Tafara constituency a cleric and CCC supporter, Tapfumaneyi Masaya, was found dead.

The faction riddled CCC politicians did not hesitate to rush to social media accusing ZANU PF of murder.

Not even an iota of evidence was submitted to support their inflammatory claims.

But guess what,  this was accepted as gospel truth by their  gullible faithful, who included their Western handlers.

Just imagine the amount of retaliatory action which could be generated  by such inflammatory  unverified claims!

Meanwhile, police spokesperson Paul Nyathi has come out telling the public that police were still investigating the death and would release their findings in due course.

In fact the police spokesperson has blamed the use of social media to spread unsubstantiated claims about abductions and kidnapping.

The net effect of such hate inspiring claims is to ferment hostility among the contesting parties.  

To date, there is relative calm as we go for the by-elections.

This can be further maintained, if supporters of contesting candidates restrain themselves from the urge to use violence.

In this regard the onus is on political party leaders.

You cannot convert, even someone from a faction within your own political party, to support your choice  through violence.

Let’s use social media responsibly.

Let’s not take advantage of anonymity as an excuse to display our cowardice and spew hate messages.

We remain confident that the pattern of peaceful polls before, during and after will remain the order of the day.