NPRCWATCH www.ntjwg.org.zw CAN THE NPRC OVERCOME A LEGACY OF FAILURE? By Paul Themba Nyathi Our country has witnessed great deal of violence. The liberation war claimed around 50 000 deaths. During the Gukurahundi atrocities, an estimated 20 000 people were killed. In 2005, Operation Murambatsvina displaced over 700 000 people. Political violence has displaced over 1, 2 million people between the years 2000 and 2005. About 4 million Zimbabweans have since ed the country. We are a nation at war with itself. And the question we have to ask ourselves is: can we heal from these deep wounds? It is a question that requires that we further ask: how did we get here? This is a dialogue which many brave men and women started as early as 1983 when the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops Conference (ZCBC) published the paper'; Reconciliation is still possible at the height of Gukurahundi.' In 1997, the Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) and the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) published the Breaking the Silence Report and made several recommendations for building true peace, most them which are still valid and would transform our country if implemented in sincerity. In 1998, some organisations came together to nd ways of assisting the victims and formed the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum. Twenty years later, we are still grappling with that same legacy of how to break free from political violence. It is within this conversation that the push for a Truth Commission gathered momentum in 2008 leading to a constitutional reform process. Finally in 2013, through the new Constitution, the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) was established with a ten year mandate to ensure post-conict justice healing and reconciliation. The euphoria following the operationalisation of the NPRC has been very cautious. We Zimbabweans are famed as a “land of Commissions without commitment.” We have had Commissions before, that worked and collected testimonies and collected evidence and yet nothing has been achieved. The Chihambakwe Committee of Inquiry was established to look into the Gukurahundi Atrocities. The Dumbutshena Commission looked into 1982 clashes in Bulawayo. Neither Committee's report has ever been seen despite many attempts to recover these reports. Following the looting of the War Victims Compensations Fund, the Chidyausiku Commission was established. It heard evidence of massive looting by high ranking politicians. Despite the publicity that goes with it, not a soul was tried for the crimes. In fact many of the persons implicated remain in powerful positions in Zimbabwe. Many victims of past atrocities are aware that we are a nation that continually slides towards nonaccountability. It is because of this legacy that many look at the NPRC and wonder: what's new? What's different? This creates a major stumbling block for the NPRC. How do NPRC Watch, Issue 4, May 2018 40