Lying to the nation

More than a year after the organ was launched three quarters of Zimbabweans have never heard of the organ, according to a study by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum whose results were released last week.

According to researchers, ignorance of the existence of the organ is evidence that very little had been done on a national scale to create awareness of the work of the organ in local communities where violence was believed to be prevalent.

Put differently, some of the country’s most senior political and government leaders that have, over the months, manned the organ have been and are still sleeping on the job.

Alternatively, the organ has been so ineffective because in the first place none of those in the three parties that make up the unity government ever wanted the thing to go beyond a publicity stunt.

History has demonstrated time and again that true healing and reconciliation is impossible without truth and justice.

In other words, there can never be national healing or reconciliation in Zimbabwe when the criminals who plotted Gukurahundi and masterminded the political violence that accompanied every major election in the country since 1980 retain their positions in the security forces and continue roaming our villages and cities.

But we all know that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu (PF) would rather see the unity government itself collapse than allow a process that includes exposing, let alone bringing to justice, the people behind the mass beatings, rape, torture, home demolitions and other heinous crimes we have witnessed over the years.

We also know that both MDC parties would go the extra mile to keep the unity government intact because they see it as the only mechanism through which change can be achieved without the shedding of blood. And they are probably right in not wanting to scare Zanu (PF) too much.

But it was wrong and unforgivable for the three parties to have promised healing to a hurting nation – as they did when they launched the organ on national reconciliation and healing last year – when they knew very well that they were neither ready nor capable of delivering truth and justice, without which our poisoned community can neither be cleansed nor healed.