management problems, mental illnesses and many other social problems.⁵⁴ Provisional solution to the rehabilitation of victims and their mental health needs The Forum recommends that while commissions and enquiries are held, there should be a temporary intervention to deal with the scourge of mental health and other health problems that continue to be faced by victims of state organized violence in Zimbabwe. One proposal that has been put forward by the victims is the setting up of a program or a fund that gives support to medical and social workers including psychologists in special units set up at major hospitals in urban and rural areas to attend to mental health issues. For those who have other ailments, the patients would need to link their concerns to abuses so that the cases of past human rights violations are separated from day to day illnesses. This is important to take care of such patients as those who need physiotherapy, which is considerably expensive and requires specialist services. Victims told the Forum that mental health services should not only be provided to the public, but also to members of the police to help them find healing. It cannot be denied that some members of the police involved in abuses were affected mentally and thus they need health services support. Compensation and damages The law in Zimbabwe provides for the compensation of victims either in criminal or civil cases. Most the clients sue for damages because of the pain and suffering caused by physical injuries resulting from the human rights violations. The Forum has since its formation taken many cases to court. Judgments have been varied with the majority being orders for the minister responsible for the police to pay substantial fines. What remains lacking is a system where the individual perpetrators are held to account. Most of the perpetrators continue to hide behind the state making it difficult to shame and punish the individual, which can deter further assaults and violations of such a kind. The law in Zimbabwe through the State Liabilities Act prohibits the attachment of government property and does not give any prescription as to what periods can be taken by the government to pay victims of wrongdoing by state officers. In the past Emmerson Mnangagwa has argued that “the attachment of government property would not only lead to chaos, but the government would become dysfunctional and as a result fail to provide essential services to its citizens”.⁵⁵ Compensation for unlawful killing in Zimbabwe The police in Zimbabwe have, over the years, been accused of several cases of wrongful deaths or unlawful killings. The Forum pays attention to those cases of unlawful killings related to politics. Relatives of deceased individuals killed by state agents are unable to sue for adequate compensation for the wrongful deaths since that remedy is not recognized under Zimbabwean law. The Zimbabwean government has argued before in a case to the African Commission by the Forum that such kind of legislation does not exist in any jurisdiction in the world and that the Forum “should lobby organizations that share its views so that such legislation could be adopted”.⁵⁶ The African Commission noted that the Government of Zimbabwe's assertion that the question of remedies to parents has no legal ⁵⁴ An Analysis of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum Legal Cases, 1988 – 2006: Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, June 2006 at 9. ⁵⁵ Mnangagwa defends State Liabilities Act, Charles Laiton, 27 July 2016 Newsday available at: (Last accessed 7 November 2018) ⁵⁶ See Kazingachire Communication to the ACHPR by the Human Rights Forum at para 55. Anti-Impunity Report 29