5.1 The legislative framework In the transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa it was the newly elected and first democratic parliament that enacted the legislation necessary for that country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This was in stark contrast to the allembracing amnesties implemented in Zimbabwe just before Independence. If there must be a return to democracy in Zimbabwe before the abuses of human rights can be addressed, it follows that only after such a transition can any effective legislative machinery leading to a TJRC be set in motion. Laws will need to be promulgated to create the TJRC. However, the present political crisis in the country relates directly to the illegitimacy of the process that saw President Mugabe retain power in March 2002 and Zanu-PF ‘win’ the June 2000 parliamentary elections, as well as the use/abuse of the Constitution and other laws in these processes. Some may therefore question whether there can in fact be a return to democracy without there first being serious electoral, constitutional 26 and general legal reform . It is likely that these politico-legal questions will constitute much of the meat at the transitional negotiating table. Civil society, insofar as some sectors of it are committed to seeing constitutional and electoral changes, will obviously continue to make its voice (or voices) heard in these regards, as it seeks to influence what the political players will have to grapple with. At this stage nobody can predict the paths that such negotiations are likely to take, and in particular the extent to which there will be legal reform before a return to democracy. This in turn makes it equally difficult to predict whether any TJRC will be established under the present Constitution or under some other dispensation. 26 The Declaration (Appendix I) p. i-iii calls, inter alia, for the repeal of all repressive and unjust laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (Chapter 11:17), the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Chapter 10:27), and the Broadcasting Services Act (Chapter 2:06), as well as for “the immediate and complete overhaul of electoral laws and institutions to enable all elections to be held under free and fair conditions.” 11