especially violent, with murders, extra-judicial killings, torture, rape, abductions and disappearances, death threats, and displacements being extremely common (Human Rights Forum. 2000; Human Rights Forum. 2001; Human Rights Forum. 2002; CSVR.2009). The elections in 2005 and 2013 were not marked by political violence to the same extent, but it was evident that intimidation was highly prevalent in both (Reeler & Chitsike. 2005). However, and despite ZANU PF regaining a two-thirds majority in parliament, 2005 saw forced displacement of a massive scale under the so-called Operation Murambatsvina, which several commentators (including a United Nations Special Envoy)4 feared could be a crime against humanity (Oxford Pro Bono Publico Group. 2005). An estimated 1.2 million people were rendered homeless, but the range of consequences far exceeded mere homelessness (ActionAid. 2005). Following the excessively violent elections in 2008, and the Global Political Agreement (GPA), Zimbabwe has seen a diminution in gross human rights violations and political violence, but neither have been entirely absent as the monthly reports of the Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) illustrate. By no stretch of the imagination can Zimbabwe been seen to be in any form of transition, and with the fracturing of political parties, the emergence of serious faction fights, any form of transition seems a long way off. It might even be that 2016 marks even greater instability, with the prospect of organised violence and torture being highly probable in the future (RAU. 2016(a)). 2. The History of Transitional Justice in Zimbabwe With such a turbulent and violent history, it is remarkable that there has been such excellent documentation of gross human rights violations, and such courageous action by human rights groups over the past four decades. The beginnings can be traced to the Catholic Church in the 1970s and the work of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) (Auret. 1992). As reports of gross human rights violations began to trickle through from the Northeast of Zimbabwe in the early 1970s, the members of CCJP began to collect evidence and document the atrocities committed. This was at considerable personal risk, with some members even surviving grenade attacks on their homes. The intention in this work was to take cases of gross human rights violations to the courts, but this was stymied by the passing of the Indemnity and Compensation Act in 1975, and CCJP had to continue through advocacy and public exposure. CCJP was quickly back in action in the 1980s documenting the well-planned and systematically executed mass killings being reported in southern Zimbabwe – the so-called “Gukurahundi”, which many commentators suggest was “genocide”. 5. Documented evidence was collected and presented to the ZANU PF government, which resulted in the government establishing the Chihambakwe Commission. Tellingly, the findings of the Commission were not made public, and have never been made public. As pointed out above, the violations of the 1980s came to an end in 1987, but overt human rights work remained difficult with the country remaining under Emergency Powers, originally put in place by the Smith regime but continued by ZANU PF. 4 See ―Report of the Fact-Finding Mission to Zimbabwe to assess the Scope and Impact of Operation Murambatsvina by the UN Special Envoy on Human Settlements Issues in Zimbabwe‖. 5 Is a Shona language term which loosely translates to, "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains". 8