HEAL ZIMBABWE - BASELINE STUDY REPORT In this view, the Unity Accord can be considered to have achieved some milestones in keeping Zimbabwe united and creating an opportunity for a working relationship among the key liberation war movements. However, the Unity Accord is largely regarded as a failed instrument for national healing, peace and reconciliation as it only facilitated a fragile political integration. While PF ZAPU and ZANU PF forged a working relationship, the unity was fragile as evidenced by the pulling out of some ZIPRA members from the Unity Accord arrangements. The agreement left out community level socio-economic integration and political reconciliation. Thus, creating an economic Gukurahundi89 against the former PF ZAPU dominated populations, which today express themselves as economically marginalised. In the year 2000, a fast track land reform ensued. The land grievance is one of the causes of fighting the liberation war struggle and it was not addressed at independence. War veterans and Zimbabweans, in general, who felt that the land was still in possession of the white community, symbolising a colonial injustice, decided to demand it. As a result, the government facilitated the Fast Track Land Reform Programme as an attempt to promote healing, peace and reconciliation through equitable distribution of land. While the land redistribution process succeeded, the process was marred with human rights violations including violence, loss of jobs, incomes and sheer property destruction. Other beneficiaries, in a corrupt fashion, awarded themselves multiple farms leading to other people failing to access the expropriated land. Therefore, the land issues remain an issue in need of reconciliation. The War Victims Compensation Fund was another attempt to correct historical injustices by providing a legislated restorative justice mechanism targeting War Veterans and the Victims of the liberation war struggle. While the war veterans and war victims received financial compensation, not all people benefitted. The process was hijacked by some war veterans and politically connected individuals who led the process to derailment. The war veterans’ compensation led to the collapse of the country’s economy beginning with the 1997 black Friday where the Zimbabwean dollar lost 72% value against the United States dollar.90 In addition, the increasing state repression led to demands for constitutional reforms in 2000 and 2009. The first constitutional reforms were undertaken in 2000. However, the reforms were rejected by the Zimbabwean majority that participated in the referendum because of its inadequacies. In the year 2009, another constitutional reform process commenced. In 2013, a new constitution was adopted through a referendum. While the 2013 adopted constitution was largely led by political parties, it is generally considered a peopledriven supreme law of the Zimbabwean state which means that peace and reconciliation attempts could succeed. Economic Gukurahumdi refers to the economic marginalisation of the people of Matabeleland region which further inflict pain after the (political) Gukurahundi massacres. 90 Mambondiani, L (2007, November 2) A Minute of Silence for Black Friday. The Zimbabwe Independent. Retrieved from https://www.theindependent.co.zw/2007/11/02/a-minute-of-silence-for-black-friday/ 89 49