Human Rights Archive Zimbabwe

Day 2 of the NTJWG Conference being in Bulawayo began with participants visiting different historical sites and heritage centres which depict Zimbabwe’s conflict history and community healing practices. Visited places include; the Entumbane Reintegration Camps sites, the Queen of Peace Roman Catholic Church and Amagugu International Heritage Centre.

From 21 to 23 November 2018, over 118 delegates converged in Bulawayo for the 2018 Transitional Justice Policy Symposium which was jointly convened by the National Transitional Justice Working Group (NTJWG) and the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR). The theme of the symposium was, ‘Never Again: Setting the Transitional Justice Agenda for Zimbabwe.’

This article assesses the effectiveness of the Tree of Life healing approach, which was one of the methodologies tried during the course of the research with a small group of survivors of the 1980s atrocities.

The conference commenced with welcome remarks from Reverend Dr Ray Motsi (the NTJWG Thematic Leader on Memorialisation). There where also remarks from Paul Themba Nyathi, the NTJWG Deputy Chairperson standing in for the working group’s Chairperson, Aleck Muchadehama as well as a speech from Nomfundo Mogapi the Executice Director of CSVR and last but not least, remarks by the Chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Retired Justice Selo Nare.

This report outlines the opinions and expectations of Victims and Survivors on what should be included in a Transitional Justice Framework for Zimbabwe commissioned by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.

Closing address by Alec Muchadehama a Key note Speaker. He Emphasized in the importance of Peace and Reconciliation and ways of making sure that it is the Government's way of Doing things.

This report captures all the proceedings of the symposium, speeches, expert exchanges and outcomes. With QR codes scattered across the report, the reader is invited to join the dialogue, to watch the videos of the presentations and capture the full emotion of the 2018 symposium.