never be sustainable peace unless people are willing and prepared
to face their old wounds to heal them.' (Jescom, 2015) In a joint
statement of Christian Denominations in Zimbabwe, church leaders
in 2005 stated that Zimbabwe has become a 'house of fear' with her
people 'frozen in a war mode with the language and practices of a
command structure'. For certain crimes, the church leaders
regretted, people will not seek redress from the law because they
know they will not receive it. The vision of Zimbabwe as a free nation
is stied. It was concluded, “All this we have lived each day,
prisoners in a concentration camp from the Zambezi to the
Limpopo.” (Afcast.org.zw, 2015)
Confronting this pervasive fear have been brave stakeholders
engaging in some memorialisation projects to honour the memory
of victims of past violations. Notable among these is the work of
artists like Owen Maseko, organisations like the Zimbabwe Human
Rights NGO Forum and Zimbabwe Human Rights Association
(ZimRights) in championing the commemorations of the 26 June
International Day in Solidarity with Victims of Torture; Research and
Advocacy Unit (RAU) in giving a voice to women victims of sexual
violence; Ibhetshu LikaZulu in preserving the memory of the many
victims of Gukurahundi, as well as Heal Zimbabwe Trust in assisting
many families, carry out healing ceremonies within the connes of
their culture. Grace to Heal and Ukuthula Trust have also
accompanied many victims in processing and healing the
memories of trauma.
In policy analysis, documentation of serious violations and analysis
of the patterns has been a critical aspect of these efforts. In this
area, competent actors like the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP),
Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ), Student Solidarity Trust,
the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), Progressive Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), Veritas, Media Monitoring Project (MMPZ), the
Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR),
Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of
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