WHEN he was given the microphone at the Harare province inter-party meeting of the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic), something appeared to bother Innocent Hamandishe.

As he is wont to do whenever there are a number of his Zanu PF comrades present, any presentation for Hamandishe starts with a slogan, and a few praise words for the party.

For a while, Hamandishe appeared to struggle to find an alternative to his usual "Macomrades" to address fellow participants.

And when the pastor asked everyone to hold hands in prayer, Hamandishe and a number of the participants would briefly open their eyes. They just somehow could not stand with their eyes closed while holding hands with their political rivals.

This is the dilemma that faced participants at the inaugural Jomic inter-party provincial leadership meeting held in Harare on Friday.

Jomic was established to monitor the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) between Zanu PF and the MDC formations. GPA underpins the unity government.

Jomic is co-chaired by GPA negotiators from the three parties.

The meeting brought together Harare provincial leaders from the three parties in the inclusive government.

"For the first time in the history of the GPA, we have managed to bring together party leadership at provincial level," said Zanu PF representative, Oppah Muchinguri.

"All along it has been leadership at national level. This is the beginning of public debates which we will hold across the country.

"We need to embrace each other, we need to change our mindset."

From what transpired during the meeting, the team faces a mammoth task in instilling tolerance among supporters of different parties.

"We can bury our differences, but they (Zanu PF supporters) should bring back our property like livestock that is still in their possession,"said one MDC-T supporter.

"We can forgive them for what was destroyed, but what they still have they should bring back," he said.

Participants argued that while it was good to monitor the implementation of the GPA at a national level, there should also be grassroots structures.

The Zanu PF Harare provincial youth chairperson Jim Kunaka said there was need to foster unity and tolerance among party supporters at the grassroots.

"Unity does not start at national level," Kunaka said. "National unity is a result of the unity of people at the grassroots where the masses are. Most of the problems we face are created for us by leaders."

MDC-T provincial chairperson Morgan Femai supported Kunaka's proposal, saying the "parties have been playing hide and seek" since 1999.

"I remember when the principals were signing the GPA, some of us were fighting on the terraces," Femai said.

MDC Harare chairperson Martin Magaya said the most important thing was to implement the recommendations from the discussions.

"We need to implement these things, otherwise it will seem like it's just another talk show," Magaya said.

Zanu PF's Amos Midzi said there was "need to go to where the people are".

"As leaders, we may have our own ideas, but the people on the ground also have their own views on certain issues," Midzi said.

Jomic national co-ordinator Patience Chiradza said the inter-party leadership meetings would be followed by public forums across the country.