Mashingaidze: The 1987 Zimbabwe National Unity Accord and Its Aftermath 87 great deal of attention to individual cases or by measures of compensation and redress which benefit the victims, by remembering the names of the victims, as in religious celebrations, on memorial stones, in literature, etc., or by lasting public recognition of the pain and grief the victims and dependents have to live with. Reconciliation is the first step towards a society which can give a lasting guarantee for dignity and justice. The 1987 Accord resulted in the cessation of hostilities but brought no peace and unity. Victims of the violence have not been compensated. Neither have those who perpetrated the violence been tried nor have they sought the forgiveness of their victims, at least through acknowledging their roles in the crisis. The Zimbabwean Unity Accord is viewed, perceived and analysed in personality terms rather than as a communal and national undertaking. Many saw the passing away of Nkomo, in july 1999, as the death knell of the Accord. Bulawayo Human Rights Lawyer David Coltart (2000) noted that: [J]ust as the President Robert Mugabe is the cement that holds ZANU (PF) together, Nkomo was the cement that held PF ZAPU together and those former (PF) ZAPU members who are now ZANU PF. I think there is a possibility that his death will unleash some political battle to get his mantle. It could speed up the disintegration of the party in the region but much will depend on the public who respected him because of his history. Former ZANU-PF Central Committee member, Norman Mabhena, who noted that after Nkomo the ruling party had no chance of dominating the Matabeleland region echoed the above sentiments by observing that ‘there is no way ZANU-PF can rise again in Matabeleland. It won in the last elections (1995/6) because people respected Nkomo’ (see Sunday Mail, 2 July 2000 and also the Financial Gazette, 13 March 2002). The people of Matabeleland and the Midlands have survived two terrible civil wars in as many decades, and they have received no guarantee that it will not happen again. In spite of apparent state and dissident atrocities there has been no official apology. In fact, the war episode is spoken of in muffled voices by officialdom. The Ndebele ethnic communities in Matabeleland and the Midlands are still hostile towards the ruling ZANU-PF party and its government (Gatsheni-Ndlovu 2003:2). This was indicated by their overwhelming votes for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the parliamentary and presidential elections of 2000 and 2002. Some of the weaknesses of the Unity Accord are that it was crafted in a minimalist way that did not go beyond a power-sharing formula between the leading political elites in ZAPU-PF and ZANU-PF. The dominant post-Unity Accord politics in Matabeleland and the Midlands regions revolved around 4.Mashingaidze.pmd 87 31/10/2005, 12:54