The Recruitment Process So Far
On 14 June 2018, the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) advertised
for a recruitment firm to assist in the recruitment
of the NPRC’s Executive Secretary. The Notice,
PRC/ZWE/RFP/1874/6/14/2018 was featured on
the UNDP website (http://procurementnotices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=4
7256). The bid was won by Industrial Psychology
Consultants (IPS) a Harare based employment
agency.
On 7 October 2018, IPS advertised the position
of Executive Secretary for the NPRC in the
Fi n a n c i a l G a z e t t e , a f i n a n c i a l w e e k l y
publication, with a two week window. On 21
October 2018, the advert appeared in the
Sunday Mail with the deadline extended to 26
October 2018.
On 30 October 2018, the NPRC announced
through their twitter account that they had
received the green light from Treasury to recruit
32 of its 103 staff before end of the year.
MINIMUM STANDARDS
In November 2014, NTJWG published the
Minimum Standards for an Effective National
peace and Reconciliation Commission. In these
Standards, NTJWG noted the question of will
serve as the Secretariat of the NPRC is very
critical. We noted that it is critical to ensure that
the people who will serve in the Secretariat are
not accused persons, potential suspects,
witnesses, or individuals with a possible blemish
in respect of past violations. The Minimum
Standards further state that;
It will be a violation of the NPRC’s
constitutional independence for any organ of
the state or another body to try to influence
who will serve the Secretariat of NPRC. It will
also be a violation of the NPRC independence
for the state to influence the remuneration
policy for Commissioners and Secretariat. It
will severely affect the integrity of the NPRC if
persons associated with organisations
reputed for violation of human rights find
themselves in the secretariat of the NPRC. A
rigorous vetting process must be undertaken
during the hiring process.
(NTJWG, 2014:07)
We would never have said it any better today,
than four years ago.
The role of the Secretariat can never be
overemphasised for it is the infrastructure that
drives the work of the NPRC. Below, we identify
three critical principles that can make or break
the Secretariat of the NPRC.
i. Independence
The NPRC is burdened with the duty to exorcise
the nation of the curse of violence. This includes
dealing with very sensitive issues that may
implicate some of our current leaders. The
expectation or threshold of independence for
NPRC is above that expected of any other body.
This independence has been questioned before
and the NPRC has the duty to rise above these
questions and show the nation that they are
beyond the politics that may threaten their
agenda. In a number of meetings with
stakeholders, survivors of past violations have
raised a case with the reality that the NPRC was
originally located in the Office of the President at
Club Chambers and being served by the
Secretariat from the Office of the President and
Cabinet, which formerly used to serve the Organ
on National Healing Reconciliation and
Integration (ONHRI). At a briefing meeting, the
NPRC assured stakeholders that such an
arrangement was only temporary and that the
Commission was taking steps to establish itself,
independent of Office of the President and
Cabinet. The shadow of the Office of the
President and Cabinet, which also houses the
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) hangs
over the work of the NPRC. As the NPRC takes
steps to establish its independent offices and
Secretariat, this is the perfect opportunity to
ensure that it rises beyond the suspicions and
engages a truly independent Secretariat. In the
Minimum Standards, we noted that persons
associated with organisations reputed for
violation of human rights must never be
associated with the NPRC. Indeed, many
survivors also do associate some government
departments with gross violation of human rights.
A thorough vetting process must be conducted
on the prospective Secretariat to ensure that they
possess the integrity necessary to maintain the
independence of the NPRC.
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ENSURE INDEPENDENT, COMPETENT AND WELL - RESOURCED SECRETARIAT FOR THE NPRC