such that they culminated in Gukurahundi. In the words of one respondent, “even after the proclamation of 1980 reconciliation policy, Gukurahundi started immediately meaning that it was not sincere and it was a contradiction to the decree …Nkomo had to run away. This revelation shows that there was no sincerity on the part of the government in the first place. A similar view was further articulated by a community leader who said: “the 1980 speech was a cheap political stunt, hollow of latitude indicating left and turning right ….there was no evidence that the declaration meant it.” Out of selfish political ends, the 1980 decree even failed to address the land grievance. A farmer representative interviewed said “… the land as a reconciliation issue could have been dealt with in 1980 once and for all it failed and the 2000 chaotic land reform was a manifestation of the policy failure.”94 While corruption, racial/ethnic discrimination, lack of inclusivity, lack of transparency, bad governance and inadequate financial resources were cited as factors that contributed to the failure of previous reconciliation efforts, it is important to note that these are largely perceptions. The failure of several reconciliation processes can generally be attributed to the non-transition of the ruling government and political regime, ZANU PF. A personal interview with a Farmer in Mutoko on the 13th of June 2016 A personal Interview with a War Veteran in Bubi on the 13th of March 2017 94 95 In addition, the Unity Accord was initiated as a way of averting further massacres of the Ndebele people. Expanding on this, another interviewee said “so it was not a genuine reconciliation attempt. It was simply a ceasefire political settlement, which never facilitated redress of the deep rooted causes of the problem. The 1987 Unity Accord was a stage managed fallacy only meant to stop the war.”95 52 RECONCILIATION PROCESSES IN ZIMBABWE