HURUNGWE 1. CONSTITUENCY: HURUNGWE 2. PROVINCE: MASHONALAND WEST 3. VENUE: CHURCH OF CHRIST 4. DATE: 06 SEPTEMBER 2009 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 63 Sex: 35% female Age: 15–62, average 31 years From: church representatives, youth, women, political activists and government employees 6. RECOMMENDATIONS i. Bad governance • All challenges are caused by bad governance. Everything must be fixed at the root cause, which is bad governance [male participant]. • There is need to put an end to the long period of dominance by the same people and the same systems. This must be done through a new constitution [male participant]. ii. Institutional reform • The institutions of government must respect human rights and the will of the people. In the past, these institutions have been used to suppress the people’s will [political activists]. • The people who work in government institutions must be retrained to ensure that they are professional. They must know that no party is allowed to control government institutions. They are for the benefit of the people [political activists]. • Security personnel must uphold the law and not treat anyone as above the law. There are still criminal elements who committed offences but they continue untouched by the law. The security’s duty must be to weed out such elements [government employees]. • The media must not be confined to the major cities only. There is a blackout of information [youth] iii. Accountability • The police must bring to justice all perpetrators of political violence. Justice comes before reconciliation [youth group]. • Some people were influenced to commit crimes. The “big fishes” which were behind the atrocities must be brought before the law. If they are not brought before the law, they will continue to sponsor violence “from the comfort of their offices” [youth group]. iv. Reconciliation and rehabilitation of victims • The youths who were forced to commit offences must be rehabilitated back to their families and societies. Those who had dropped out of school must be re-enrolled and trained in life schools so that they do not continue to be used by politicians [youth and women’s groups]. Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 71