d) Chaotic Fast Track Land Reform and Electoral Violence (2000-2008) In 1999, a formidable opposition party was established after massive food riots and protests against the government in 1998 through the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU). The opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), showed its strength by prevailing in the 2000 constitutional referendum, during which they campaigned for a ‘NO’ vote against the new draft constitution. The referendum loss prompted ZANU PF to take a drastic populist political agenda by legitimising the violent land invasions that the War Veterans had started ahead of elections in the same year. The Zimbabwean government and ruling party ZANU PF exploited a genuine land grievance, fronted by War Veterans. The land conflict developed from the Fast Track Lack Reform Policy, code named the Third Chimurenga. As a result of the land reform programme, approximately 224 000 farm workers lost their jobs and 75% of them became landless and unemployed while about 3 900 white commercial farmers lost their farms.13 Since the 2000 constitutional referendum, the jambanja land reform violence became ZANU PF’s instrument for electoral campaigns and ideological propagation. Conflation between ZANU PF and the state became more evident such that the 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2008 elections were characterised by state-sponsored violence, murder, torture, arson, arbitrary arrest and detention, abductions, and many other forms of politically motivated violence. In 2008 alone, over 200 people were killed and thousands were displaced. 14 The land issue became the centre of violence and political campaign while the liberation struggle experiences were repeatedly recounted for political propaganda. The anti-colonial history was frequently narrated on political gatherings, public meetings and on radio and television stations for political benefits. However, in all the politically motivated violence, there has been a difference in the magnitude, nature and forms of repression. The Zimbabwean government began introducing repressive laws to suffocate political opposition and pluralist debate. The decay of the human security institutions and legal systems systematically undermined the country’s potential for building the Zimbabwe that everyone longed for. Evidence collected about human rights violations, especially since the February 2000 constitutional referendum and subsequent elections demonstrate the danger of Zimbabwe’s failure to deal with past injustices. Although, there have been attempts to address historical violations through remedial policies and inter-party agreements such as the Prime Minister’s declaration of forgive and forget and the Unity Accord, a number of shortcomings led these efforts to be aborted. These past efforts and shortcomings will be discussed in the following section. Sachikonye L. (2003) Land Reform and Farm Workers. Retrieved from http://ir.uz.ac.zw/jspui/bitstream/ handle/10646/365/Sachikonye-land-reform.pdf?sequence=1;. See also Hawkins, T. (2013) Zimbabwe Land Reform – How Successful. Retrieved from http://www.cfuzim.org/index.php/land-facts/3700-zimbabwe-land-reform-how-successful 14 Human Rights Watch World Report.2008 Retrieved from: http://pantheon.hrw.org/legacy/wr2k8/pdfs/wr2k8_web.pdf. See also: Human Rights NGO Forum. (2008). Political Violence Report. December 2008. Retrieved from: http://www. hrforumzim.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/200812MPVR.pdf 13 6 RECONCILIATION PROCESSES IN ZIMBABWE