UMGUZA 1. CONSTITUENCY: UMGUZA 2. PROVINCE: MATABELELAND NORTH 3. VENUE: HLANGANANI PRIMARY SCHOOL 4. DATE: 05 NOVEMBER 2009 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 34 Sex: 32% female Age: 29–77, average 51 years From: village elders, local leaders, government employees, youths, local business people and women 6. RECOMMENDATIONS: i. Institutional reform • Since Gukurahundi, the State has become a gangster-type organization and citizens do not know when they are going to be attacked. • There is a need to rebuild trust and faith in the government institutions. The police must be reformed and loved and not feared by the people. The story of Matabeleland has not been told because the government is controlling the media. ii. Accountability • The perpetrators of past crimes must stand before the courts and answer for their wrongs. • There is no need to trust the government if it does not take responsibility for past abuses and “repent”. Accountability must begin with the government itself [one participant]. • All those who participated in the Matabeleland massacres must “face the music”. • There is need for accountability on the part of the traditional leadership, who receive aid on behalf of the poor and then decide to convert it for political purposes. iii. Reparations • There needs to be consideration of a reparations programme for the victims of the Matabeleland massacres. The children of the victims grew up as orphans, and the government has done nothing to deal with their plight [group of youths]. • The government has not even managed to acknowledge that a wrong had been done. The current leadership of government should visit Matabeleland and apologize for the wrong [group of government employees]. iv. Truth recovery • The truth is sacred, and it will always be known. There is a need to find ways of recovering the truth of what happened during the Gukurahundi. • The recurring outbreak of violence before every election is the result of not recovering the truth in the past. So perpetrators continue to commit offences. Evil breeds in the dark and if society wants to stop the killing of innocent people, all past activities must be unearthed and the truth must be published [one participant]. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 103