4. That the necessary institutions be set up to deal with past and present human rights abuses, and that such institutions be empowered not only to investigate and seek the truth but also to recommend criminal prosecution, provide for redress and reparations for victims, and lead to the healing of the nation. Such institutions must encourage and sensitively deal with the special needs of victims. This is particularly important in dealing with women and children as victims. 5. That the Constitution guarantees future respect for human rights and sets up a justice system and other institutions to give effect to such a guarantee. 6. That the government must enable Zimbabweans to take advantage of the protection and remedies offered by international human rights instruments. 7. That there should be an investigation into corruption and asset stripping, and the repossession of all assets misappropriated from state and private enterprise, or acquired through corruption and other illegal means.19 10. The 2008 Elections In 2007, an alliance of organizations including churches, civil rights and labour organizations, spearheaded by the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance organized themselves into what they called the Save Zimbabwe Campaign. The Alliance organized a prayer rally at Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare’s suburb of Highfield. The police crushed the prayer rally ruthlessly, killing an NCA activist, Gift Tandare. Over a hundred people were arrested, including the leaders of the opposition parties and civil society organization. The opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was severely assaulted by the police. This caused an international outcry which forced SADC to appoint the then South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between the ruling ZANU(PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change, which had split into two formations in 2006. The mediation process led to the adoption of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections in 2008. These guidelines aimed at establishing a standard electoral practice in Southern Africa. For Zimbabwe it meant the “levelling of the electoral playing field”, which would result in reforms to the electoral system. The then ruling party, ZANU(PF), agreed to some of the demands from the MDC. The new system saw, among others, the following: • establishing of a new election management body; • abolition of the Electoral Supervisory Commission and; • abolition of the Delimitation Commission. The electoral reforms raised hopes for more democratic elections in the future and yet, as the coming elections would expose, these changes did not guarantee the legitimacy of the election. While the management of elections had changed, the political situation deteriorated and hate speech increased. The possibility of election fraud was reduced but was not eliminated. Repressive legislation remained in force. The election management body was still appointed by the President and had no financial autonomy. While the body was charged with the accreditation of observers, it could only accredit those observers invited by the Ministry of Justice. 10 Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report