system that was designed to serve the minority to one that served the majority. It had to deal with the complex post-conflict Zimbabwe which included victims and survivors of the past conflict. The government embarked on a policy of reconciliation. On 17 April 1980, the eve of independence, the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe said, “the wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten”.2 The policy of reconciliation promised to bring about political, racial and tribal harmony in order to rebuild war-shattered Zimbabwe. The liberation war had caused so much suffering. Thousands perished, leaving many orphaned and survivors traumatized. One of the things that the new government did was to provide for compensation to war victims. In pursuit of this, the War Victims Compensation Act [Chapter 11 : 16] was passed in 1980 to provide for the payment of compensation in respect of injuries to or the death of persons caused by the war. The Act came into force on 14 November 1980. Compensation was paid after assessment and the funds were taken from the Consolidated Revenue Fund. This programme was administered by the Commissioner of War Victims Compensation. The fund was not sufficient to compensate all the victims of the war. Criticism was levelled against the administration of the fund as it was alleged to be corrupt and leaving out the real victims of the war. In April 1989, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association (ZNLWVA) was formed. The association pushed for compensation of all veterans of the liberation struggle. It is observed that “the formation of the [ZNLWVA] was a reactive initiative taken by ex-combatants when it had become abundantly clear that the Government had failed to assist them”.3 The ZNLWVA successfully pushed the government to look into the affairs of its members. In 1992, the government passed the War Veterans Act [Chapter 11 : 15] to provide for the establishment of schemes for the provision of assistance to war veterans and their dependants and to provide for the establishment of a fund to finance such assistance. The success of the programme is debatable. Financial compensation was paid to veterans of the liberation struggle. The success of the fund is still contested. Senior government officials were accused of looting large sums of money from the fund. No support programmes were given to the beneficiaries of the fund as most of them simply squandered the money and returned to their lives of poverty. In 1984, the National Heroes Acre was established through the National Heroes Act [Chapter 10 : 16]. The Act provided for the designation of “national hero” status, the rendering of State assistance to dependants of such heroes, and established a fund to finance State assistance to such dependants. While all these transitional measures were noble in objective, the approach taken by the government was not holistic and lacked the participation of the people. It was a top to bottom approach. Most people felt left out and the various compensation funds were not administered in a transparent and accountable way. The policy of reconciliation did not go beyond rhetoric. No solid measures were taken to heal wounded communities. Zimbabwe would soon plunge into bloodshed, evidence that the government’s non-participatory transitional measures had created only “silence” and not reconciliation. 2 Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report