The culture of impunity originally conceived to deal with the human rights violations of the liberation war period, also became a driving force in the independence era. A Clemency Order of 1998 pardoned all violations committed by all parties between 1982 and the end of 1987 – thus obscuring the Matabeleland atrocities. Clemency Order (1) of 1995, officially excused the politically-motivated beatings, burning of homes and intimidation perpetrated by supporters of ZANU-PF during the 1995 elections, by granting amnesty to those liable to criminal prosecution for or convicted of these crimes. This set a further precedent for yet another presidential pardon for political violence, Clemency Order (1) of 2000, which was declared after the violent June 2000 parliamentary elections. Once again, those involved in human rights violations - such as kidnapping and torture, but excluding murder, rape and fraud, could not be held accountable for criminal or civil claims through the justice system. Contentious questions arise from these situations. Firstly the impunity gap arising from the pardons will need to be addressed somehow. Secondly there is need to establish whether the pardons were in fact legally binding. Questions can be asked as well with regard to whether victims and survivors of pardoned human rights violations can still have recourse to judicial or other mechanisms of redress. Today, human rights violations occur and the majority of perpetrators mainly aligned to ZANU PF have not been punished and are not likely to be prosecuted or held accountable for their crimes. Names like Detective Constable Henry Dowa,14 Joseph Mwale, (a CIO operative) and many other state agents come to mind as people who continue to commit torture and other serious human rights violations in the name of the state with shocking impunity. Numerous cases of arbitrary arrests, displacement, extrajudicial killings, torture and other serious human rights violations have been documented but the perpetrators continue to enjoy impunity. 14 Detective Inspector Henry Dowa who is based at the Law and Order Section of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the ZRP, Harare Central Police Station has numerous serious allegations of torture linked to him. 14