They may be asked from the viewpoint of the ZANU PF old guard who see themselves as victims of both colonial injustices and recent international interventions yet who are often implicated in post colonial atrocities. Or they may be asked from the perspective of white farmers and those who reside in Mashonaland provinces, whose narrative of serious rights violations begins in 2000. There is also the standpoint of the people of Matabeleland and former ZAPU cadres whose narrative of the liberation struggle is often sidelined and who are still seeking justice for the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres. Or again, the questions may be considered from the perceptive of human rights scholars and activists who are schooled in the notion of combating impunity and the need to respect victims' memory. Or yet again, the side-lined narrative of women who at different epochs have been silenced in attempting to expose abuses by key political male figures who were seen as indispensable to different political goals. Further, the question may be asked from the standpoint of the Zimbabwean diaspora who are labelled as those “people who ran away”, marginalised in their places of residence, yet they are the people who sustained the Zimbabwean economy through remittances between 2000 and 2008. This confirms the need for a national narrative of the past. Of course, there is an additional question as to whether the truth articulated by the state is unlike the truth expressed by individuals or groups. Nonetheless, this paper is guided by Kriesberg's notion of the truth as a collective appreciation of each other's historical accounts. Truth can only be covered by a programme which acknowledges and connects varied narratives of the past. This shared narrative of history forms a basis for reconciliation and national healing. Against this background, the paper starts by pointing out the key historical periods that can be subjected to truth recovery initiatives. It then discusses previous attempts at recovering the truth and past bodies tasked with truth recovery and reconciliation. This section covers both state-led initiatives as well as those initiated by civil society and addresses the main historical obstacles. The paper proceeds to give an overview of future opportunities and threats to truth recovery and reconciliation in Zimbabwe. This section also looks at the current truth recovery prospects as laid down in the new Constitution. The paper ends with conclusions, which serve to re-examine the benefits and objectives of truth seeking mechanisms in Zimbabwe. 20 The Second International Conference on Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe