REDRESS/AMANI document contained an outline of the mechanisms requiring implementation if justice in Zimbabwe is to become a reality. These two documents, together with the papers presented and the resource material subsequently published, 194 were to be used in the ongoing campaign inside Zimbabwe to insist that the needs of victims are fully met in transition and afterwards. A key element which emerged at the symposium was the call for the setting up of an effective and independent Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission. V. GOVERNMENT REPARATION MEASURES As a result of the amnesties which flowed from the 1979 Lancaster House settlement, it was not possible for any war victims, whether they were excombatants on either side of the civil war, or civilians who had been caught in the middle, to launch civil actions against the newly-independent State of Zimbabwe (or indeed against any individuals) for any damages arising from the liberation war. Under UDI, a compensation mechanism was established for persons who suffered losses as a result of what was at the time called “ acts of terrorism”as defined in the Victims of Terrorism (Compensation) Act [Chapter 340 of 1974]. This Act was intended to and did benefit mainly supporters of the white minority regime whose property had been damaged; it did not benefit ordinary black peasants who had been attacked by the government security forces or who might have been targeted by Zanla or Zipra. Shortly after independence, the 1974 Act was repealed by the War Victims Compensation Act [Chapter 11:16]. The preamble to the new Act stated that it was “ to provide for the payment of compensation in respect of injuries to or the death of persons caused by the war,”and ‘the war’ was defined as “ the armed conflict which occurred in Zimbabwe and in neighbouring countries between 1 January 1962 and 29 February 1980, in connection with the bringing about of, or resistance to, political and social change in Zimbabwe” .195 The Act defined ‘injury’ so as to include both physical and mental incapacity or physical injury.196 It was made clear at the time and subsequently that the Act should apply to civilians and ex-combatants, but it has been criticised as having serious shortcomings both in its content and in its application as far as civilian torture survivors are concerned: there is no provision for rehabilitation, nor does the schedule of injuries attached to the Act reflect the types of injuries likely to occur as a result of torture. 197 There are no reliable statistics as to how many civilians have ever actually benefited from the Act, but its application in practice became the centre of a huge corruption scandal in 1997, following persistent stories in the independent press that the fund set up under the Act was being looted by leading Zanu-PF ex-combatants. Mugabe appointed a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the conduct of officials responsible for the assessment and payment of compensation under it. 198 The Report was published in May 1998 and showed that there had indeed been corruption on a 194 See fn. 190 above. 195 Section 2 (1). 196 Ibid. 197 See Compensation for Gross Human Rights Violations: Torture and the War Victims Compensation Act, A.P. Reeler, Legal Forum, (Harare), Vol 10, No 2, (June 1998), pp. 6-21. 198 Proclamation 2 of 1997 as contained in SI 156A of 1997 under the Commissions of Inquiry Act [ Chapter 10:07]. The Commission was chaired by Judge Chidyausiku, the then Judge President of the High Court. 39