However, observers say the East African country could be a role model for national healing and reconciliation.
The approach taken by Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, which claimed nearly a million lives in 100 days, is something that analysts believe Zimbabwe should emulate. Healing started at a grassroots level in the East African nation. Perpetrators of violence met face to face with their victims.
A classic example is shown in “As We Forgive”, a Rwandan documentary produced and directed by Laura Waters Hinson. It features two Rwandan women, Rosaria and Chantal, coming face to face with men who slaughtered their families during the 1994 genocide.
This is in direct contrast to the Zimbabwean approach where national healing has been driven by politicians, some of whom were reportedly behind the violence.
Community-driven
The documentary reveals how mediation, truth telling, restitution and forgiveness were used to create bridges between the victims of violence and the perpetrators. Unlike in Zimbabwe, national healing in Rwanda was community-driven.
Political analyst, Charles Mangongera, is of the view that Zimbabwe has a lot to learn from the Rwandan experience.
“The problem is, we have allowed the state to play a big role in the process. In Rwanda, for instance, after the 1994 genocide they set up village courts and the traditional justice system was very effective in ensuring communities were healed,” said Mangongera.
He said decentralizing the issue of national healing was essential to achieving the desired results.
“In our case, we have centralized the process to an extent that we have a Ministry dealing with the process. It is supposed to be community-driven or we need to put in place a truly independent commission to deal with the issue,” said Mangongera.
Another problem retarding progress, Mangongera said, was the fact that the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration was led by politicians, “some of whom are alleged perpetrators of the 2008 election violence”.
Direct dialogue
The Director of ZimRights, a non-governmental organisation that carries out advocacy and educative programmes on human rights, Okay Machisa, said there was a need for direct dialogue between victims of violence and the perpetrators.
“National healing needs to start from the grassroots. Traditional leaders, churches and other neutral forces should play a pivotal role in this process, not the politicians,” he said.
According to Machisa, the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration was falling short of its expectations due to a lack of political will.
“Also, you cannot nationalise national healing. Healing starts in the communities. If people start co-habiting, then it will work. The Organ on National healing was a good framework but it has failed to achieve much,” said Machisa.
Zimbabwe established the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration in 2009 with the aim of establishing a mechanism for national healing, cohesion and unity.
The organ’s leadership comprises representatives from the three parties in the Inclusive Government namely Sekai Holland (MDC-T), Moses Mzila Ndlovu (MDC-N) and Oprah Muchinguri (Zanu (PF).
Lack of sincerity
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Senior Programmes Officer, Nixon Nyikadzino said: “The problem is that we have a top to bottom approach. This approach is certainly not in sync with what the people want. National healing should have started from a grassroots level.”
CiZC is a conglomeration of 350 civic society groups that aim to promote freedom and democratic values through dialogue.
Nyikadzino said the lack of sincerity by some political parties to fully implement the Global Political Agreement was responsible for Zimbabwe’s failure to make great strides in achieving national healing.
A mini-national survey conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute in Zimbabwe in August 2010 with a sample of 1,000 adults revealed that 68 percent of the interviewees in rural areas had not heard about ONHRI. Another 63 percent in urban areas concurred with their rural counterparts.
The deputy spokesperson of the MDC led by Welshman Ncube, Kurauone Chihwayi, said the Rwandan approach was the best way to go for Zimbabwe.
“If you look at the Rwandan case, they tried to address the actual cause of the problem. We should take lessons from Rwanda on how they dealt with the genocide issue, how they buried their differences and agreed to move forward together,” said Chihwayi. “In Zimbabwe the perpetrators of violence have to confess their wrong doing to the victims. But the people should be given the opportunity to drive the process and address the root causes.”
Absence of legislation
Chihwayi bemoaned the absence of legislation to enforce decisions made by the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration.
He said there was need for extensive outreach programmes to enable people from all corners of the country to know about national healing and how it is good for the development of the country.
The co-Minister of National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration, Moses Mzila Ndlovu, acknowledged that Zimbabwe had nothing to celebrate as far as national healing was concerned. He attributed this to the exclusion of communities in the healing process.
“You cannot achieve national healing, if you do not involve those who suffered. You need a process that allows people to speak out their experiences and be able to forgive each other. In Rwanda, it happened and the results are there for us to see,” said Ndlovu. “There has also been marginalization of the civic society that could have played a critical role in crafting a vibrant national healing strategy.”
A violent nation?
An October 2012 report by the Research and Advocacy Unit entitled, “Is Zimbabwe a Genetically Violent Nation” revealed that national healing remained a pipe dream due to marginalisation of communities.
“The fruits of their (GNU partners) labour have not been felt at the grassroots level as people have not been healed. In fact, violence continues in most communities,” read part of the report.
Of late there have been reports of a resurgence of youth militia bases in some parts of the country where Zanu (PF) youths tortured supporters of the MDC-T during the 2008 polls. The development has raised fears of a resurgence of violence in communities. MDC-T estimates that 200 of its supporters lost their lives during the 2008 elections.
Post published in: News