ZIMBABWE: FROM IMPUNITY TO ACCOUNTABILITY Given these imponderables, some might argue that it is premature to be concerned now with TJRC legislation when, as far as is known, serious political negotiations have not yet even properly started. It is suggested, however, that although useful discussion may be somewhat constrained given the imponderables already mentioned, it would be a mistake for civil society to wait until after transition before applying its mind to the required content of any future TJRC statute. While it may be too soon to be concerned with all the precise details that should appear in such a statute, in the sense of trying to construct a draft Bill so to speak, what is important is to seek to agree now on the principles that should be contained in it if indeed a TJRC is to be established. Civil society should position itself to assist any new dispensation genuinely trying to craft an effective TJRC statute, and at the same time ready itself to resist any new dispensation that tries to back-pedal or side-step the problems involved. As has been said, nobody can tell what direction things are going to take, but undue optimism is probably as misplaced as undue pessimism. It would be wrong to think that it will be safe to leave everything to any Government to sort out the reparations machinery. A realistic approach is to acknowledge that there will be strongly competing calls for priorities and resources, given the scale of the over-all crisis and the depths to which the country has sunk economically, as well as in every other field. In this context the voices of victims will not be heard unless a special effort is made to prevent them from being drowned-out in the clamour that will follow the transition to democracy and the return to the rule of law. It is important to go back to the Summary, which states clearly that an effective TJRC will need to be “ independent, credible, efficient, adequately resourced, accessible and victim-friendly.” The process of establishing a TJRC is intimately connected with the likelihood of it arriving at truth, justice and reconciliation; the extent to which it comes into being as part of a genuine ‘overall transitional justice scheme’ will impact very directly on the intended outcomes actually being achieved, especially from the perspective of victims. Independence can only be achieved if those with vested party-political interests are not granted 12