vii) failure to prosecute can lead to private revenge-seeking in which people take the law into their own hands, and which can then spiral into further retaliatory violence; viii) successful prosecution and incarceration of leading perpetrators removes them from society and increases general and individual security. Civil society therefore needs to look carefully at all sides of this vital issue, in a genuine quest for a consensus. Should only the most serious violators be prosecuted, and if so who decides who they are – a TJRC, the usual prosecuting authorities, or some other organ? Whoever has this power, what criteria are to be applied? What is the role of victims in the decision-making process? Should there be any form at all of ‘truth for amnesty,’ and if so when can it be said that full disclosure has been made? There are no easy solutions or foolproof road maps. The experiences of other countries can help considerably but cannot be applied mechanically. Zimbabwean human rights activists need to find innovative ways to deal with the pros and cons of criminal prosecutions and retributive justice. Another mechanism, which has developed to deal with past human rights abuses is restorative justice, seen as a way of avoiding or overcoming the problems and shortcomings of the punitive approach examined above. Instead of being so perpetrator-oriented as retributive justice, restorative justice seeks to work closely with the victims and the communities from which they and the perpetrators come, in ways which still make the perpetrator accountable, but more directly to the victims instead of ‘abstract’ entities such as the state or society in general as in the case of prosecutions. It is much less legalistic and procedural, and far more flexible, than courtroom justice, emphasizing restoration and reconciliation rather than punishment. The broad aim is to mend the social harmony that widespread human rights abuses have damaged. It has a strong voluntary component, and attempts to reach agreements and consensus through publicly acknowledged and community based solutions to the wrongs that have occurred, instead of imposed criminal sanctions. There are likely to be important roles for traditional leaders to play as 23