the animal which is slaughtered during the ceremony, and traditional beer is brewed and consumed as part of the ceremony. 8. THE POWER OF TRADITIONAL JUSTICE MECHANISMS AND PROCESS IN ENHANCING TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE Through the work that has been carried out by ZIMCET and HZT over the years, there is a sound understanding that traditional justice systems and mechanisms in Zimbabwe have the ability to contribute to transitional justice in Zimbabwe. There are inherent weaknesses in the system of course but these can be worked on and improved. The discussion below describes how traditional justice fundamentals such as truth seeking, deterrence, reparative justice, reconciliation, closure have been achieved in different communities in Zimbabwe. 8(i) Truth Seeking: Traditional justice mechanisms have the potential to bring out the truth about past human rights violations as the perpetrators are allowed to present their stories and narrations in community based environments where their safety is guaranteed by the rest of the community. As much as in modern criminal prosecutions and court processes the risk of half - truths, lies and manipulation of information can never be done away with. However, the fact that a perpetrator comes seeking for community cleansing and is also aware of the need to “cleanse” his own family of social ills bedeviling his relatives facilitates a natural inclination towards bringing out the whole truth. The kind of social and community ostracism that accompanies perpetrators who are perceived to be uncooperative with the truth seeking process is enormous. A whole host of social 14