v. The Church • The Church can be trusted [women’s and youth group]. However, in the past, one church leader was heard announcing publicly that he was praying for someone’s death [political activists]. • Thus the Church is compromised and as such cannot be trusted with the truth [political activist]. When the Church introduced prayers to encourage their followers to pray for peace, the politicians reacted angrily. This has intimidated the church, which still remains too fearful to handle the truth [male participant]. However, the formation of the Inclusive Government has eased the situation [church group]. 7. OBSERVATIONS • This was a small meeting, dominated by men. • The meeting drew participants from the main political parties and the traditional leaders, with MDC participants being outnumbered by ZANU(PF) participants. • It was reported to be the first meeting to be held in Zvimba in seven years bringing together all political players: identified as bitter political rivals in past elections. • It was worth noting that the meeting was conducted in a friendly atmosphere, concluding with a prayer where all participants held hands, and a peace commitment was made between the bitter rivals. • However, the disturbances that followed bore witness to the intimidation to which participants had made reference in the meeting and to the accuracy of the views expressed by them. 8. THREATS AFTER THE WORKSHOP • The local co-ordinator reported that one of the female participants was visited by a ZANU(PF) delegation, led by a retired army Major in the company of the ZANU(PF) youth chairperson for Zvimba West, who accused her of speaking against the army at the workshop. He allegedly told her that they could facilitate the disappearance of her husband and that she would lose her stand at the flea market. • The participant reported the matter to the Zvimba Police Station, where she was apparently promised by a police officer that he would visit the people who had approached her. • On 29 November 2009, the local Forum co-ordinator reported that he had been phoned by a caller from Chinhoyi (who identified himself by a first name) who allegedly said he had done wrong by organizing a workshop which had brought MDC people together and that, as a punishment, he was going to lose his job in Zvimba [name of employer supplied]. 90 Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report