4.7.2 Truth Commissions There has been no truth commission process in Zimbabwe, but there have been a number of conferences and symposia on the issue of transitional justice. Allied to these has been some of the most extensive documentation of the gross human rights violations in the postindependent period. Thus, the first of the Joinet Principles, the Right to Know, has been extensively propagated by Zimbabwean civil society. As illustrations of the extensiveness of this documentation, several examples can be given. In analysis of the violence in five selected southern African countries – Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe – Zimbabwe was shown to be the most violent of the five countries, especially during elections (RAU. 2016 (a)), but also that, in contrast to the other four countries, where most reporting emanated from the press, 75% of all available reports between 1997 and 2014 came from civil society organisations (RAU. 2016 (b)). Earlier, an analysis of human rights reporting on Zimbabwe by the Redress Trust in 2005 showed a four-fold increase in the number of reports since 2000, with reports from this period comprising 33% of all reports issued on Zimbabwe since 1975 (Redress. 2005). These are just two examples of the enormous outpouring of reports on human rights violations since the late 1990s, and hence it can be claimed that Zimbabwean civil society has more than adequately filled the gap that might have been occupied by a formal truth telling process. This claim has been substantially enhanced through the many public meetings on the issue of transitional justice in the past decade or so. The large meetings on transitional justice were given impetus by the 2003 Symposium held in Johannesburg (Themba leSizwe. 2004), which provided an excellent overview of the gross human rights violations to that point in time and laid out the mandate that has guided subsequent meetings, as well as a considerable amount of research. In pursuit of that mandate, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has held two international conferences on transitional justice, carried out nation-wide surveys on ordinary citizens‟ views of transitional justice, and recently initiated the setting up of a National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG). Composed of nine experts, and endorsed by 46 civil society organisations, the NTJWG is a timely initiative ahead of the establishment of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC). The NTJWG has already laid out guiding principles for any transitional justice process (NTJWG. 2015). The NPRC is one of the independent commissions established under the Constitution amended in 2013, and whilst its terms of reference are yet to be legislated, its capacity to undertake transitional justice activities seem reasonably well-stated in Part 6, Section 252 of the Constitution. Given that the NPRC is time-limited, and that there has been unacceptable delay in establishing and empowering the Commission, there can be cause for concern about its final efficacy. However, there remains the possibility of a formal truth commission process taking place, but this possibility may even be in advance of an actual transition as things stand currently. Here the NTJWG is an important initiative that will provide pressure on the NPRC and may well continue beyond the life of the NPRC if this latter initiative proves inadequate. It seems fair to conclude, therefore, that whilst an official truth commission has yet to operate, and may never satisfactorily operate, truth has not gone missing in Zimbabwe through the efforts of an energetic and courageous civil society. 38