CHINHOYI 1. CONSTITUENCY: CHINHOYI 2. PROVINCE: MASHONALAND WEST 3. VENUE: ST. PETER’S PASTORAL CENTRE 4. DATE: 29 OCTOBER 2009 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 56 Sex: 7% female Age: 18–60, average 33 years From: government employees, students, unemployed youths, church representatives, women’s groups, political activists, survivors of political violence, farmers, informal traders, community activists. 6. RECOMMENDATIONS i. Reconciliation and national healing • There must be no forgiveness for perpetrators who do not admit to wrongful conduct [participants]. • No one should be forced to forgive anyone against their will. • Reconciliation should be co-ordinated by local leadership through community resources. [male participant] ii. Restitution • A way of compensating victims of past violence must be devised, and compensation must be adequate and coupled with a guarantee of non-repetition [participants]. • The instigators themselves should come out in the open and own up to their actions. iii. Who must implement the transitional justice mechanism? • The current authority cannot fairly implement this because office bearers of the current government are perpetrators and lack goodwill; some leaders have featured in several violent incidents [male participant]. • An independent body must implement any transitional justice process [participants]. • Civil society should be the body to implement this [youth group]. • Would civil society do justice to the needs of all sectors? [women]. iv. Institutional reform • Government institutions have become institutions of violence and these need to be dismantled [participants]. • The security arms and the judiciary must be professional. All government institutions must be depoliticized and reformed in a way that promotes respect for human rights, free and fair elections, justice without favour, investor confidence and equal distribution of resources [political activists]. • Government institutions must be run in such a way that they are viable and civil servants’ salaries must be raised above the poverty datum line [government employees]. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 69