I n s t i t u t e fo r j us t i ce a n d r eco n ci l iat i o n a fr i c a pr o g r a m m e Women were supportive of national healing processes that would involve truth seeking and the mapping of patterns of past violence as a way of trying to understand what actually happened to them. During focus-group discussions women argued for gender-sensitive approaches to the gathering of this information so that rape victims would be able to testify or tell their stories without further humiliation. Women stressed the need to prosecute serious offenders and that the state should compensate women who were victims of state-sponsored violence. They noted that, in the absence of arrests and prosecution, few people take healing seriously; perpetrators continue to threaten communities and many women continue to feel vulnerable and insecure. The state should end the current state of impunity for perpetrators and establish legal mechanisms for transitional justice. With support from different stakeholders the state should facilitate gender-sensitive projects in communities for people to rebuild their lives. As one woman noted: I think that without some compensation or assistance to victims it would be difficult to rebuild lives because people’s means of livelihood were destroyed by the violence. (Interview, 6 June 2011) Several respondents expressed the view that the most restorative act that the current government could perform would be to reveal the truth about the arbitrary arrests, detention and disappearances of opposition political activists. Others cited reparation programmes that provide a range of material and symbolic benefits to victims, and institutional reform that includes vetting the public service and removing from office those public employees personally responsible for gross violations of human rights. Some women expressed concern that paying compensation to affected families might be construed as somehow designed to distract families from pursuing the truth about their loved ones. Other affected families, especially female-headed families that have little economic security, could face a dilemma about the need to feed themselves in the short term, and the need to know the truth before any compensation or reparations can be accepted. There is also the distress caused by putting a value on the life of the disappeared by accepting money from authorities. As one woman remarked: Compensation is a thing when you destroy someone’s property and give some money to cover the loss; but how can you cover the loss of my father, brother, husband? It’s not possible. (Focus group, 7 June 2011) Most participants stressed the need for full consultation as a critical element in the success of any model of compensation or reparation as a healing tool in transitional justice. By full consultation, they meant meaningful public participation, particularly including the affected women and their families, in co-ordinating the broader assistance aimed at strengthening the rule of law in the country. Some were of the view that women should demand a truth commission or a tribunal for crimes committed during the political violence, and that they should also lobby for a speedy process in addressing the suffering experienced. However, many were highly sceptical of the willingness and commitment of the present government to institute such bodies given government’s record on past commissions whose findings were never made public. The majority of respondents argued strongly against blanket amnesties through presidential decrees, as has been the practice in Zimbabwe to date. A group of female students who participated in a focus group agreed that: 12 IJR Zimbabwe Womens needs OP proof 2.indd 12 7/16/2012 11:01:31 AM