The paper begins by outlining a basic framework of the traditional and modern concepts of the security sector with reference to global models and the African context, specifically the African Union Policy on Security Sector Reform, and the comparative processes underway to address security sector transformation in this regard, before assessing transformative processes in post-colonial Zimbabwe with specific reference to the security sector and with reference to the legacy of the liberation war. This latter aspect, the colonial and liberation legacy has, in the opinion of this writer, not been given sufficient attention in previous efforts at analyzing and assessing transformation processes after independence. In this regard the paper also makes reference to the “Dealing with the Past” agenda in Zimbabwe today in the overall context of security sector transformation. The paper then moves on to briefly analyse the historical and current content of security sector policy and governance in Zimbabwe, identifying the key challenges to be addressed. Finally the paper outlines the work conducted by the Zimbabwe Peace and Security Programme (ZPSP) in addressing security sector policy and transformation, specifically with regard to the development of a National Security Sector Transformation Plan for Zimbabwe. In April 2017 the ZPSP published an assessment of “Contemporary Narratives of Security Sector Transformation in Zimbabwe: 2000-2016”. The introduction to this paper noted that “the discourse around SSR/T2 in Zimbabwe in the first decade of the twenty-first century, such as it was, reflected precisely the polarized divisions in the country… [and] remained locked in shallow accusation and counter-accusation between two opposing views, which simply reflected the two most narrow interpretations of what SSR/T actually might be, and how it might be applied in the Zimbabwean context”.3 Having reviewed the existing literature on the subject the paper concluded: “In the schematics of college student theses, SSR/T literature in Zimbabwe would be held to have merely reached the stage of ‘the statement of the problem’. Fortunately the body of literature in Zimbabwe continues to grow steadily, and is beginning to move beyond the stalemate of a simple polemical contestation. The journey has at least begun”. The polemical contestation noted by the writer of that paper concerning literature on SSR/T in Zimbabwe did indeed reflect the reality that research, publications and debate on the subject were locked in stalemate. Moreover in this writers view (as mentioned above) the historical context had frequently been obscured and distorted, or simply neglected. If we are to move beyond stalemate and “shallow accusations and counter-accusations” we need to apply more effective historical context and more rigorous analytical method to addressing the challenges of 2 The terminology applied to the concept of Security Sector Reform (SSR), originally coined by the British Department for International Development, varies throughout the world. The UN and AU have stuck with the original term, but some organisations have applied more technically neutral terminology such as governance or management whilst others use Security Sector Transformation. 3 “Contemporary Narratives of Security Sector Transformation in Zimbabwe: 2000-2016”, Peace and Security Briefing No 1, ZPSP, Harare, April 2016. 2