BULAWAYO Zimbabwe should establish a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) to achieve true national healing, civic groups said, rejecting plans by the unity government to grant amnesty to who committed political crimes in the past.
The groups said such a commission should be modeled along neighbouring South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission that probed human rights abuses during the apartheid era.
The commission that was led by Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu had powers to grant amnesty to those who confessed their crimes and to forward for prosecution anyone who failed to own up to their wrongs.
We have had too many amnesties since 1980 so that people in Zanu (PF) now believe they can go and murder and get away with it, said Father Nigel Johnson, the chairman of Radio Dialogue, a Bulawayo based community radio station.
The Zimbabwean on Sunday revealed last week that the coalition government was considering granting amnesty to people accused of committing political crimes including to those behind the 1980s Gukurahundi atrocities in the southern provinces of Zimbabwe.
According to our sources, top security commanders who have directly and indirectly refused to back the coalition government, are behind the push for amnesty, insisting they will drop their opposition to the unity government only in exchange for immunity from prosecution for past crimes.
But rights groups said granting amnesty to human rights violators without full disclosure of the crimes committed and without any justice for victims could never heal the country.
A blanket amnesty violates our vision for a transformed Zimbabwe society that talks about the sanctity of life, equity, fairness and justice, said Sikhululekile Mashingaidze, an advocacy officer at Habakkuk Trust, a Bulawayo based Christian organization.
Mashingaidze added: There should be a South African-type TRC in this country for Zimbabwe to move forward. Victims should have an upper hand on whether they want amnesty (granted to perpetrators).
Human rights lawyer Job Sibanda said, victims are still there and if they see the perpetrators roaming the streets, they always feel strongly for justice and the only way we can achieve justice to heal the nation is through a TRC.
Former provincial governor Welshman Mabhena said Zimbabwe should hold a referendum on the sensitive issue of amnesty.
He said: No one and no political party has the right to make such a decision of granting amnesty on behalf of the people who have suffered and continue to suffer. There should be a referendum for Zimbabweans to decide what course of action to take against the offenders, the criminals, the looters who committed their crimes on political grounds.
Post published in: Politics