1. Introduction
Heal Zimbabwe conducted a snap survey in March 2016 to establish the level of knowledge
among the Zimbabwean populace regarding the National Peace and Reconciliation
Commission (NPRC) as the government designs enabling legislation that operationalizes the
commission. The study was prompted by the government’s embarking on public
consultations for the NPRC Bill without having raised awareness about (i) the constitutional
functions of the NPRC and (ii) providing the draft national healing legislation to the public
before any soliciting for public views. The NPRC is constitutionally mandated to facilitate
national peace, healing, reconciliation and integration in Zimbabwe. This justifies the
importance of assessing the extent to which people know or understand the existence of the
country’s healing mechanism firstly in the constitution and secondly as an issue before
parliament.
Research participants were randomly selected during Heal Zimbabwe public meetings and
non-HZT platforms. Deliberate efforts were made to collect responses from diverse
communities and groups to improve the representativeness of the sample. A total of 230
people from 6 provinces, participated in the study. The study found out that 79% of the
participants did not know about the NPRC or ever remember getting information about the
existence of the NPRC draft Bill –gazetted on the 18th of December 2015.
2. Knowledge about the National Peace and Reconciliation
Commission
Most Zimbabweans hardly know about the constitutionally provided Independent
Commissions (Chapter 4 of the Constitution) which makes it difficult for them to seek justice
and reconciliation in a more informed way. Only 54% of 189 participants indicated that they
have ever heard about the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission. Among the
participants who said they once heard about the NPRC, most of them were able to
demonstrate that they know the duties and responsibilities of the NPRC.
Have you ever heard about the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission
(NPRC)?
Response
YES
NO
Total
Frequency
102
87
189
Percentage
54
46
100
If YES, what are the NPRC’s responsibilities?
Most of the respondents were aware of the general responsibilities of the NPRC. These
included violence prevention, promoting peace building and reconciliation by educating
communities on reconciliation and national healing issues. However, it must be noted
most of the respondents gave general responsibilities that do not necessarily fall under
the commission and without elaborating on the specific responsibilities for the
commission. Some of the responsibilities wrongly attributed to the NPRC by participants
are constitutionally provided for under the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the Judicial
Services Commission and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission. This further
buttresses the idea that the majority of the citizens are not aware of the responsibilities of
the NPRC and its difference with other Commissions established in the Constitution.
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