1. INTRODUCTION Zimbabwe’s national peace, healing and reconciliation needs can be traced from the time of British imperialism and colonial occupation accounts, in part, to the present struggles for democracy, human rights and good governance. The country’s human rights violations record spans a long history which encompasses the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial experiences. Addressing these violations requires an appreciation of the background and context in which they arose and of the evolving relationships within and between diverse socio-economic and political players. The following sections, therefore, provide diverse contexts which eventually open up opportunities for a cohesive discourse on nation building process. 1.1. Background to Peace and Reconciliation in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe’s socio-economic and political development itinerary has been characterised by institutional, legal and structural shortfalls that have been challenged through historical upheavals and contestations. The state’s governance omissions and commissions compounded by the residual impact of colonialism have generated cycles of tension and strife whose impact offset progressive vision for social, political and economic transformation. As citizens tried to adapt to modern governance and statecraft, they have often been criminalized leading to cycles of resistance and struggle. These developments created epochs of unresolved conflicts thereby cementing violent legacies. Since the advent of colonialism in Zimbabwe, there has been characteristic dissociation, alienation and exclusion of citizens by the state. This is largely because governance systems, both colonial and post-colonial were modelled to deliberately perpetuate the interest of the politically powerful. For that reason, reconciliation between the state and citizen remains a daunting undertaking. The delays in constitutionalizing the architecture for peace and reconciliation are linked to this experience. Besides, there is a recurrent disconnection between the traditional African practices and the colonially inherited state structures which has created practices that are outlawed by modern law and yet organically understood by the communities. During the colonial and liberation struggle eras, atrocities targeted the guerrilla movements, the rural peasant communities, war collaborators and their proxies. Comparatively, the black majority suffered colonial cruelties than other races. However, while the pre-independence brutalities were largely Rhodesian-led and anti-black, there were also uncountable case of black against black atrocities, maiming and betrayal in the postindependence era. The violence continuum stretched into Zimbabwe’s independence beginning with the 1982-87 Gukurahundi atrocities to the 2008 political violence and the recent military coup effected in November 2017. Figure 1 below is a timeline showing Zimbabwe’s conflict and violence continuum. 1