MHONDORO-MUBAIRA 1. CONSTITUENCY: MHONDORO-MUBAIRA 2. PROVINCE: MASHONALAND WEST 3. VENUE: MHONDORO NORTH CLINIC 4. DATE: 17 FEBRUARY 2010 5. PARTICIPANTS: No.: 37 Sex: 41% female Age: 16–72, average 46 years From: youths, peasants, farmers, women, village elders, political activists, church leaders, and villagers 6. RECOMMENDATIONS i. Institutional reform a. Constitutional reform • The election management system, political violence, lack of adequate information for the rural voters, access to aid and resources by minority parties and the current state of the security sector are causes for concern. Consequently, reform of the respective institutions is recommended, starting with the constitution [political activists]. • The constitution is the source of most of the problems caused by impunity. Constitutional reform is therefore required to create a solid base for the reform of institutions [political activists]. b. Security services • The police and the army must be reformed to ensure that they perform their duties impartially [male participant]. • They must not be involved in politics and must stop taking bribes. “Once you see them putting on their traffic uniforms, you know they are now looking for breakfast.” They must not be used by politicians to terrorize the nation [elderly male participant]. • The notoriety of the security personnel is caused by a culture of impunity. Some people consider themselves “above the law”, hence they create problems in the running of the police and the army [male participant]. • There is need for constitutional reform to align the delinquent security forces and there should be a programme to restrain the serving members of the security sector so that they respect human rights [male participant]. • Can the security forces be restrained? “If I was in power, I would replace all the security forces with a totally new force” [youthful male participant]. c. The electoral system • Zimbabwe has a long and “rich” legacy of manipulating elections and the election management system allows certain political parties to control the environment and manipulate the entire process [political activists]. 82 Taking Transitional Justice to the People – Outreach Report