Annexes Dr. Khanyisela Moyo: Forbidden Truth? - Background to Truth Recovery in Zimbabwe, Challenges, Opportunities and Threats Abstract This paper gives a background to truth recovery in Zimbabwe. It covers the relevant episodes requiring attention, past attempts at recovering the truth, past bodies tasked with truth recovery and reconciliation, the main obstacles in history and an overview of future opportunities and threats to truth recovery and reconciliation in Zimbabwe. The paper also looks at the current truth recovery prospects as laid down in the new constitution. Introduction It is now common practice for societies emerging from conflict to use various truth seeking initiatives as a way of dealing with past human rights abuses, reconciling or healing communities and delivering justice. Zimbabwean policy makers, human rights NGOs and academics have been considering, for many years, the question as to whether or not the country should have a truth commission or some other form of truth seeking mechanism. Efforts have also been made to garner public views on the subject though there are no conclusive findings as to whether the people of Zimbabwe consider “truth seeking” as the best way of dealing with the past. At the extreme there are those who feel that this will be a time wasting exercise, as those initiatives would not ineluctably establish the truth. They are also some critics who believe that there are other imperatives that have a better claim upon resources. At the same time, it is facile to state that the quest for the truth is futile. Zimbabwean victims of human rights abuses deserve both answers and redress so that peaceful coexistence among previously opposing parties can be fostered. This invites further questions as to the period to be covered, the implication of past amnesties and as to which truth seeking method would best suit the Zimbabwean context. These are all questions which have been explored elsewhere and answers to them have been largely contingent on who asks them or who is asked. Truth Commissions: the Best Practices 19