NPRCWATCH www.ntjwg.org.zw THE NPRC NATIONAL CONVERGENCE What went wrong… …what went well The phrase 'national convergence' is not new to Zimbabweans. Decades of suffering caused many to wonder, 'How do we get ourselves out of this mess?' After years of contested electoral outcomes, hope in the current crop of political leadership in both ruling party and opposition started to diminish. Talk started, 'Who can bring us together again.' It was around this time that the Church was inundated with calls to save the fast dying nation by creating a point of national convergence where all can come together and nd a solution to restore the nation. In 2015, the National Convergence Platform (NCP) led by Anglican Bishop Bakare emerged touted by many as the answer to the people's yearning for national renewal. Owing to the same problems of polarisation in our society, the NCP dies a natural death, even before its formal birth. In January 2018, at its rst public meeting, the NPRC announced that it would hold public meetings, to be followed by a national convergence. This sounded familiar and indeed it whetted the people's appetite for a real convergence. The convergence of the people of Zimbabwe from all walks of life. Behold, 9 May 2018, at the Rainbow Towers, the NPRC held what it called the National Convergence and 13 Validation Conference. The much talked about 'national convergence' hardly brought the nation to a stand still. Attended mainly by selected civil society actors from Harare, the half day meeting lacked any resemblance of a national event. We share with you some of our observations which makes us question the national character of the meeting. A convergence that never was By calling this meeting a 'national convergence', the NPRC whetted the people's appetite for a real national convergence, bringing in people from all walks of life to tackle the critical issues that have bedevilled our nation. As days passed on, it began to look like no convergence was going to happen. All of a sudden, the Commission started sending out invitations to selected persons and organisations. The event was to take place in less than 5 days and it was not clear what criterion had been used to choose who was to attend. From that point, it became clear that this was going to be another elite gathering that excludes the people who matter – the survivors of our ugly past. And indeed, it became – just another conference, not a convergence.