CHIRUMHANZI 1. CONSTITUENCY: CHIRUMHANZI 2. PROVINCE: MIDLANDS 3. VENUE: CHADEREKA COMMUNITY HALL 4. DATE: 04 FEBRUARY 2010 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 36 Sex: 33% female Age: 25–74, average 48 years From: church leaders, youths, local leaders, peasant farmers, political activists, suspected perpetrators of political violence, government employees and women 6. RECOMMENDATIONS: i. Truth recovery • There should be a truth commission to investigate cases of human rights abuses in order to give victims a chance to tell their stories. • All sectors of society should be consulted in the appointment of the commissioners. It is vital to the success of the truth commission that the commissioners were never involved in politics and, if possible, are picked from the church, civil society, and traditional leaders [one group of participants]. • Commissioners must come from other countries to help with truth recovery [another group of participants]. • Although truth commissions are a necessity, such commissions are not a feasible option at the present time as the inclusive government seems to be unwilling to establish and support such an option. The government is not prepared to hear the truth. ii. Restitution • It is easy to talk about reparations, but they are far from being a reality. Most perpetrators are poor and cannot afford to pay reparations. People should just “forgive and forget” [one participant]. • The government of the day should be responsible for paying compensation on behalf of those perpetrators who cannot afford to pay damages for the atrocities they have committed [most participants]. iii. Accountability • Perpetrators should face accountability by way of criminal prosecutions. The State should not waste its resources on the young perpetrators but should prosecute and jail the “big fish” who were instrumental in carrying out human rights violations [one group of participants] • All perpetrators and instigators of political violence and human rights abuses should face some form of prosecution. There should be less expensive methods of accountability including non-custodial punishments such as community service [another group of participants]. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 113