•
Traditional mechanisms - there is also
an opportunity to facilitate community
level peace and reconciliation processes
through grassroots level institutions
such as traditional leadership and
practices. Traditional leaders can
facilitate peace and reconciliation
processes
through
administering
traditional courts, facilitating kuripa,
kutandabotso, kupiramidzimu, among
others and can supplement the national
level conventional justice practices.
These practices can be done without
involving national level leaders whose
participation is usually viewed with
resentment. Although traditional leaders
are increasingly becoming politically
partisan in dispensing their duties,
they still command respect within rural
communities such that their genuine
involvement in the process could easily
build confidence among peace and
reconciliation process beneficiaries.
•
Churches and faith based organisations
- churches can also assist in promoting
peace and reconciliation processes
through “preaching moral practices that
propagate the spirit of love and unity.”96
Religious institutions generally enjoy
a substantial following and they have
a wider national presence. This make
churches a strategic social change agent
for peace and reconciliation, in terms
of messaging and program activity
implementation. For easy synergies
and collaborations the NPRC may
build working relations with churches
associations such as the Evangelical
Fellowship of Zimbabwe, Association of
Pentecostal Churches and the Catholics
Bishops Conference, among others.
•
New Media -social media such as
Twitter, Facebook, Short Term Messages
and Blogs can also play a greater
role in peace and reconciliation as a
communication tool for education and
awareness raising. There is an increase
in the use of social media in Zimbabwe
which could make it easier to spread low
cost peace and reconciliation messages
to a wider audience.
•
Other government departments –
while the NPRC is an independent
body, it should take advantage of
other government departments when
implementing its programme activities.
For example, the police should assist by
enforcing the law through investigating
criminal cases connected to peace and
reconciliation issues as well as making
arrests where necessary.97 The Ministry
of Public Service, Labour and Social
Welfare can also assist with Counselling
services as social support to victims of
violence and conflict while departments
responsible for gender and youth
development can provide rehabilitation
platforms for those in need of such
services.
Personal interview with a ZANU PF youth member in Mutoko on the 14th of August 2016 Muzondidya, J. (2010).
The Zimbabwean Crisis and the Unresolved Conundrum of Race in the Post-colonial Period. Journal of Developing
Societies. Volume 26(1)
96
97
54 RECONCILIATION PROCESSES IN ZIMBABWE
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