1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On the 18th of December 2015, the Zimbabwean Government gazetted the National Peace and
Reconciliation (NPRC) Bill .This is in line with Sections 251, 252, and 253 of the Zimbabwean
constitution that provides for the establishment of an Independent Commission known as the
NPRC. Following this, in March 2016, the Parliament of Zimbabwe through the Portfolio
Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Thematic Committees on Peace and
Security and the Human Rights Committee, carried out public hearings on the Bill from the 1020th of April 2016. Two teams carried out the task: Team (A): Kwekwe, Gweru, Victoria Falls,
Hwange, Plumtree, Lupane and Bulawayo. Team (B): Gutu, Masvingo Urban, Mutare,
Marondera, Bindura and Chinhoyi. The public hearing in Harare comprised of both teams.
The major aim of the public hearings was to collect the views of communities on the NPRC Bill
but the task was comprised by a lot of technical, procedural and logistical challenges. To note is
the fact that the hearings were carried out without a robust information dissemination exercise by
Parliament as well as failure to avail copies of the Bill to the communities. The hearings were
only publicized at short notice via the herald newspaper, and few adverts in ZiFM and Star FM
radio stations ( whose signals cannot reach three quarters of the target areas) and a few posters.
In countries such as South Africa which carried out similar processes in the form of a Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1995, the hearings were broadcast live on radio and
television with members of the public keenly following proceedings. This also allowed active
participation of its citizens as the process was widely and extensively advertised way in advance
through all major media platforms in the country.
The choice of venues for the public hearings was discriminatory as it did not give the majority of
victims of violence an opportunity to be heard as they were located far away from the affected
people. For example survivors of political violence from Chimanimani, Chipinge, Buhera,
Nyanga, and Mutasa were expected to air their views in Mutare at whose cost? To make matters
worse, the choice of venues for the meetings did not pay attention to key historical concerns, for
instance, the Bindura public hearing venue was Tendai Hall. The hall according to participants at
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