g. The central bank • The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has evolved into a political institution and it needs to be reformed to make it independent [youths and political activists] h. Parliament • Parliament must be reformed. It has become too weak, allowing the Executive to do almost everything unchecked [male participant] iii. Truth recovery • “There can be no reconciliation without truth” [this was the first statement from the floor before participants went into their respective groups and was reinforced by some political activists who said there had been a spate of disappearances that had gone undisclosed]. • All atrocities called for truth recovery before reconciliation can take place, including the recent abductions [political activists]. iv. Reparations • Reparation must be linked to truth recovery. • Everyone deserved to be compensated for the wrongs that were done to them [political activists]. • Government must put a reparations programme in place to help rehabilitate the victims of political violence [government employees]. • Most government employees and leaders were victims of political violence and had been chased from their homes [government employees]. • During the 27 June presidential run-off election, civil servants who had served as polling officers were subjected to gross psychological torture during the “so-called verification and collation exercise”; acts which, coupled with the economic challenges, had caused serious anguish [government employees]. • There is need to provide counselling for all youths who have participated in political violence. Some have participated under duress and need to be healed of the psychological effects of such acts [youth group]. 7. OBSERVATIONS • Thirteen councillors out of 14 wards attended the meeting in the constituency. This showed great interest by local leadership in transitional justice discussions. • Members of the two main political parties attended the meeting in the constituency and participated together in making recommendations. • The 142 participants at the meeting closely followed the proceedings right up to the end. Despite the political composition, there were no signs of fear or intimidation. However, there were some strong reservations articulated about politicians being trusted to lead truth recovery. • The participation of women at this meeting was exceptional. The person who represented the government employees was a woman who spoke with great enthusiasm and caused much interest in the affairs of the government employees. The majority of the councillors were women, including the chairperson. • This meeting recorded the highest number of participants in the entire outreach. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 81