HEAL ZIMBABWE - BASELINE STUDY REPORT Rationality for the National Peace and Reconciliation Process The key justification for establishing the NPRC is to give Zimbabweans an opportunity to reconcile, heal and peacefully transform their conflicts. There is wide recognition that peace and reconciliation in Zimbabwe derive from the country’s historical transformations. The majority of the participants (20.4%) said that the major reason for setting up the NPRC is to undo cyclic violent conflicts followed by justice (15.5%) and to heal the pain of victims (14.9%). The least mentioned priority reasons were to bring closure to some traumatic past (2.1%) and undoing racial and ethnic tensions (3.1%). Rationale for the NPRC there a lot of fe terin a re e o n Operational Definition of the NPRC • peace and reconciliation constitute “a platform for dialogue, acceptance of responsibility for the past (torture and massacres, people to be answerable e.g. for Gukurahundi,) and admission of responsibility by duty bearers.” • peace and reconciliation involves “the removal of structural violent conflicts and the presence of formal structures to deal with conflict at various levels (family, social and national) while reconciliation are mechanisms of accounting, forgiveness for past wrongs and recompense for wrongs, or are forced to do so through the courts/ tribunal or any other vehicle.” that nee to e heale or el e the ill poi on eneration if not Historical episodes informing the NPRC The historical episodes informing the NPRC span from 1890 when the first colonial leaders invaded Zimbabwe (the Pioneer Column) to the 2017 soft-military coup. This means the violence continuum requiring attention from the NPRC and its stakeholders include the racist colonial violence and the subjugation of the black natives by the while settlers, the liberation war, post-independence Gukurahundi atrocities experienced in the Midlands and Matabeleland regions, electoral violence spanning from 1990, 2000, 2002, 2005 and 2008, the structural adjustment programmes experienced in early 1990s and the chaotic 2000 land reform among others conflict episodes. Other conflict episodes that necessitate a peace and reconciliation process in Zimbabwe include the 2008 hyperinflation and dollarization of the local currency and Operation Murambatsvina (and subsequent houses destruction). a or re on iliation i e e ere for i l re o e fro o r ho e in o e an o e of ere eaten an arre te for e an in re tit tion • rah n i a an ar e on i t i pla in an nproportional re pon e to the o alle i i ent threat hi h a e the on i t an ethni eno i e • Pa t perien e infor in the NPRC pro e e • N ala for er ini ter of Defen e a he a a re in ata elelan an the i lan the o ern ent are o ethin that re ret • he on ation of the tate an part eant that iti en e rit e a e o pro i e • o t hite o er ial far er lo t their far hile far or er lo t their o an enefit hile a o t of the e a e lan le an ne plo e ix