Hard Choices on Zimbabwe: Do amnesties work for or against peace? Paper Presented at the 2018 Transitional Justice Policy Symposium 23 November 2018 By Mohamed Suma ∗ 1. Introduction Zimbabwe has commenced a critical transitional justice journey after years of colonialism, dictatorship, oppression, and political violence. In 2013, the country adopted a new Constitution and in pursuant of Section 251 of same, a National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), established on 18 December 2015. The decision to establish the NPRC was a significant milestone to address legacies of serious past human rights violations, creating healing and peaceful co-existence. In 2018, the country held its first post-Mugabe elections, generating hope for accountability and social cohesion. But the challenges of accountability and peacebuilding still linger while Zimbabwe tries to design a system to enrich the country’s human rights and democratic culture, Much of Zimbabwe’s history has been characterized by years of violence, beginning with the resistance by the black majority of the oppression and deprivation of land by British colonialists. This culminated into fifteen years of struggle for independence that was subsequently gained in April 1980, with Robert Mugabe emerging as Prime Minister. Before and after the new government was put in place, several amnesties were taken,1 in particular the 1975 Indemnity and Compensation Act granted amnesty to the police force, civil service and Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) members for offences committed in the past and for those anticipated. In 1979 and 1980, the transitional government granted Amnesty Ordinances. ∗ Mohamed Suma is the Head of Office for the International center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) Cote d'Ivoire Country Program. I wish to thank Julie Chantelot and Pauline Gagliardini for conducting the background research for this paper. All errors are the author’s alone. 1 MandikwazaEdnowledge (16.06.2016), “The place for Amnesty in Zimbabwe’s Transitional Justice Process”, available at: https://accord.org.za/conflict-trends/place-amnesty-zimbabwes-transitional-justice-process/ 1

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