BACKGROUND TO TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 1. The Struggle for Justice and Accountability The struggle for accountability in Zimbabwe can be traced back to the colonial era. The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) was one of the first organizations to call for justice in the latter part of the 1970s. They collected data on human rights abuses and managed as early as 1975 to bring the then Rhodesia onto the international agenda. Several reports were produced which included The Man in the Middle (May 1975) and The Civil War in Rhodesia (August 1976).1 Amnesty International was also collecting and publishing reports on war crimes in Rhodesia, while the Catholic Institute for International Relations was documenting torture, resettlement and evictions in the same period. Faced with local resistance and international scrutiny, the Rhodesian government intensified repression. A plethora of laws meant to muzzle dissent and curtail fundamental freedoms were passed. It was between 1960 and 1979 that some of the most repressive pieces of legislation came into effect. These included the Law and Order (Maintenance) Act [Chapter 11 : 07], initially passed in 1960 but amended and strengthened many times thereafter. This became the foundation of Rhodesian security legislation. Its far-reaching provisions created a range of political offences and imposed strict limitations on all forms of African activity. There was also the Unlawful Organizations Act [Chapter 11 : 13], passed in 1971, which sought to ban all organizations that were deemed to act against the government. There were several other laws that were meant to avoid accountability for human rights violations. In 1975, the Rhodesian government passed the Rhodesian Indemnity and Compensation Act (No. 45 of 1975). This Act was applied retrospectively to pardon all actions committed by the security forces in the line of duty. These laws formed the basis of today’s culture of brutality, repression and impunity, a culture reflected in the passage of the Emergency Powers (Security Forces Indemnity) Regulations of 1982 by the majority government in Zimbabwe. This law decreed that people acting for or on behalf of the state in good faith, including the army, police and civil servants, could not be held liable for their conduct either under criminal or civil law. As demand for justice increased from both within and outside the borders of Zimbabwe, the Smith regime tightened its grip on power and closed all democratic space. The armed struggle intensified, and over the duration of the conflict an estimated 30 000 people died, leading to the Lancaster House Conference held in London in 1979. This Conference gave birth to the Lancaster House Agreement, which paved the way for the 1980 general elections. Robert Mugabe won the elections on a popular vote and established the first majority government. ZANU(PF) won 57 seats, PF-ZAPU 20, and UANC 3. Twenty seats in Parliament were reserved for Whites according to the Lancaster House Agreement. 2. Transition to Majority Rule The new government under Robert Mugabe was faced with the challenge of transforming a Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report 1