NPRC Bill, H.B.2, 2017: Factsheet 1/2017
March 2017
WHAT YOU MUST KNOW ABOUT
THE NPRC BILL HB.2. 2017
What is the Background to the NPRC Bill?
On 10 February 2017, the Government of Zimbabwe gazetted the National Peace and Reconciliation Bill
[H.B2, 2017.] (the new Bill) to put the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) into
operation and related matters. The NPRC is one of the five independent commissions established by Chapter
12 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Section 251 specifically established the NPRC with the mandate to
ensure post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation. To operationalise the NPRC, there must be a law
which provides the legal framework for the NPRC to start its work, hence this Bill. The new Bill is the
successor to the National Peace and Reconciliation Bill H.B 13, 2015 (the old Bill) which was gazetted on 18
December 2015 and withdrawn from Parliament in May 2016 following criticism by stakeholders, the public
as well as the Parliamentary Legal Committee.
What has changed in the new NPRC Bill?
Not much! The old Bill provided for a Ministerial Certificate that could stop the disclosure of information in
public if Minister deemed the information inappropriate. The Commission has no power to go against the
Certificate issued by the Minister. The new Bill still provides that if the Minister of State Security, in his
opinion, believes certain information to be a threat to national interests, he can issue a certificate to stop the
disclosure of such information in public. However, anyone who finds that certificate to be inappropriate can
appeal to the Commission, which now has power to set aside or vary the Minister’s Certificate. Anyone who
disagrees with the Commission’s decision can appeal to the Administrative Court. Secondly, the old Bill
gave the Commission power to grant amnesty. The new Bill changed the name to pardon and hid the
section under Miscellaneous Provisions. Under the new Bill, it is now very clear that the Commission reports
directly to the Parliament and that all its reports must be published 30 days later. The Minister is also
obliged to make sure that reports to the Parliament are table within 10 days.
What are the weaknesses of the new NPRC Bill?
The new NPRC Bill has four critical weaknesses which threaten the effectiveness of the Commission. These
are the lack of victim centredness, interference by the executive in various ways, its deafening silence on
gender and the power given to the Commission to grant pardon which in practice is amnesty. Additionally,
the new Bill fails to acknowledge that the Commission is established to deal with Zimbabwe’s legacy of
violence and assist society to build a more peaceful and just society.
What do we mean when we say the new Bill is not Victim Centred?
We mean that the Bill will create a Commission that will not do much for victims hence the probability that
it will fail in its national healing mandate is very high. Although Section 9 (12) provides that the Commission
shall provide safety and protection of witnesses no reference is made to victims and survivors. This is
probably the weakest aspect of the NPRC Bill as this omission creates a gap which exposes victims and
NTJWG Fact Sheet on the NPRC Bill, H.B.2. 2017
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