SHURUGWI 1. CONSTITUENCY: SHURUGWI 2. PROVINCE: MIDLANDS 3. VENUE: IRONSIDES COMMUNITY HALL 4. DATE: 03 FEBRUARY 2010 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 55 Sex: 72% female Age: 22–65, average 38 years From: church leaders, youths, women, local leaders, peasant farmers, political activists, suspected perpetrators of political violence, government employees, including one police officer 6. RECOMMENDATIONS i. Truth commissions • Truth commissions must be independent from political interference, impartial, adequately resourced, and their version of the truth should be widely accepted [one group of participants]. • True national healing only comes from God. Zimbabweans should bury their past and forgive each other. Truth commissions are a double-edged sword: they discourage perpetrators from coming forward and telling their stories for fear of being prosecuted; the effect is that people will not forgive each other. If the truth is told, it will lead to retributive violence by the victims or their relatives, thus invoking a vicious circle of violence and further conflicts [another group of participants]. • If there are truth commissions, they need to be composed of people of good moral character. ii. Reparations • There should be some compensation for the victims. • Any reparations programme should be led by the victims themselves. Reparations by their very nature should respond to the needs and wishes of the victims. It is the victims who know best what is appropriate for them [victims of political violence]. • The money for reparations should not come from the government but from the perpetrators themselves. The government needs to spend money on reviving the economy of the country [political activists]. • The government has no obligation to pay for atrocities committed by other people. This would be a waste of taxpayers’ money [women and youth group]. • Restitutions are to be paid by the perpetrators, where they can be positively identified and are in a financial position to make such restitution possible. In the event that the perpetrators are unknown, the government should make some form of collective reparation payment [local leaders’ group]. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 119