• The chiefs are interfering with the civic process and are undermining democracy and development and forcing people to rally behind chosen political groups [political activists]. b. Local government • The Minister of Local Government has too much power, which is used to under­ mine the work of local government [this position was supported and emphasized by Norton residents, who argued they had no participation in local governance and that this could be addressed by allowing ratepayers to participate in important decisions; currently local government thinks the electoral vote gives them all power to do whatever they want]. c. The judiciary and the security services • The judiciary and the security services must serve the people and not the government [political activists]. • The police need retraining in professional service to the people so that they become apolitical. The key is in transforming the minds of the men and women who serve in the security services [government employers]. • “You will see a very good member of the neighbourhood watch committee behaving so well. Just give him the ZRP uniform and he becomes a monster.” [male participant]. • Human rights organizations must go to the barracks, not to “wage a war against the security forces” but to dismantle the mentality there and train security forces to respect human rights [male participant]. d. National Youth Service • It is a criminal institution meant to cow the nation into supporting one political group. As such, the programme must be disbanded [political activists]. • The National Youth Service is a good thing, which has been hijacked by powerhungry politicians. What is required is a change of mentality [political activists]. e. The electoral system • There must be reform of the electoral system [youth and church representatives]. • Intimidation during elections is severe, and people should not be forced to attend political gatherings [women in the group of church representatives]. • The voters’ role must be protected from electoral fraudsters and the media must cover all political actions without bias. As a solution to the manipulation of the voters’ roll and in order to open up all democratic space, everyone with a national ID should be allowed to vote on the production of the ID [youths] f. Access to official documents • Access to official documents should be made easy and affordable to ensure that no one is disenfranchised [female participants from all groups who said the process of obtaining official documents was unfriendly to women]. • The law must allow women to access all documents for their children, even when the father is not present or known [women’s group]. 80 Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report