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Villagers initiate national healing process
Heal Zimbabwe Trust
June 15, 2010

"An eye for an eye makes the world go blind", Mahatma Gandhi

Background of Muzarabani District

Muzarabani district is relatively low lying and well known for its hot, dry conditions with devastating floods in some seasons owing to its flat landscape and major rivers such as Musengezi and Utete which run across the district. It is situated along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border in Mashonaland Central province. All of the roads from Muzarabani business centre into greater Muzarabani are gravel roads which are impassable during rainy season making communication difficult. The three main mobile service providers Econet, Netone and Telecel are yet to offer services making it impossible for the people to communicate. Once you have gone down the valley you lose all communication with the world, a condition which explains the extent and magnitude of intimidation and political violence in the post 29 March 2008 harmonised elections and its rampant continuation post the formation of the Inclusive Government.

Muzarabani's proximity to Mozambique has exposed it to generations of armed conflict. The ceasing of hostilities in Mozambique provided a momentary period of peace. It remained so as long as the political party involved in the liberation war ZANU PF's grip on power was not meaningfully challenged. This was however, immediately disturbed during the systematic selected political violence period that has haunted the country from the period 2000 to date. Muzarabani is one of the most affected areas of post March 29 political violence which left 22 people dead, 106 people assaulted and an estimated 125 families displaced in the area. Both Muzarabani North and South are under ZANU PF Parliamentarians and during the March 29 elections, the former ruling party, ZANU PF garnered closed to 60% of the total Presidential results followed by the Movement for Democratic Change which got close to 37%[1]. Most of those who reported intense victimization and harassment were mostly MDC supporters. The extent and nature of the violence was such that families and relatives were not given the opportunity to decently bury the deceased. Communities did not attend the funerals as is the custom and the deceased were given indecent and improper burials contrary to both traditional and religious beliefs.

The stories and tales of villagers in Muzarabani of the brutality of this period are harrowing and traumatic. To date, the Muzarabani community lives in constant mistrust, fear and uncertainty. The victims of torture and violence fear continued victimization and ponder ways and means of reducing their vulnerability. The perpetrators of violence, uncertain about their future, and the role of the Inclusive Government, specifically the Organ on National Healing, and alienated from their communities by their post 29 March brutality are living in total disillusionment. In fact, they are prisoners, held hostage by the threads of social guilt and long held family and community relationships which were once neatly knit together across generations.

Heal Zimbabwe Intervention

It is against the above background that Heal Zimbabwe Trust has embarked on this form of restorative justice, in response to requests from spouses, relatives and friends of victims of political violence after the March 29 harmonised elections in 2008. The organisation worked with seven communities and families in Muzarabani North and South in organising memorial services for Toas Gatsi, Master Kachuwaire, Tendai Chizengeya, Zondai Chipendeko, Givemore Kanodeweta, Charles Mutendebvure and Fana Dlamini.

Memorial Services

As a response to calls from villagers in Muzarabani district, Heal Zimbabwe took the initiative and assisted bereaved families in organising seven memorial services in the Southern and Northern parts of the district from the 7th to 11th of June 2010. The memorial services were held in various villages across the district. The majority of victims of this violence are women and children, the most vulnerable members of society who were left destitutes when bread winners were killed.

The victims appealed to the organisation to make possible a mourning period as most of them never got the opportunity to mourn their loved ones due to intimidation. Most of the survivors were in hiding at the peak of the violent eruptions. The violence was systematic and selective in nature and from a survey carried by Heal Zimbabwe in Muzarabani, 90% of the victims of political violence were males who acted as bread winners in their respective families.

The memorial services were organised by the bereaved families and attended by the broader community of family members, traditional leaders, church members, victims and perpetrators of the 2008 political violence among other members of the community. In the spirit of the Inclusive Government, the surviving spouses and children need time to bereave as a starting point to the national healing process. The incorporation of both victims and perpetrators of violence is meant to reduce tension between the two as a way of averting the resurgence of violence in future elections and political processes.

During the memorial services, divergent views were aired on the path to take as a mechanism to start the healing process and some of the survivors alluded to the fact that violence was unacceptable but are in a position to forgive the perpetrators some of whom were present at the memorial services as part of a community peace building initiative. In all informal discussions during the memorial services and in interviews with survivors, the widely held opinion was that the process, form and nature of national healing should be initiated by the people in affected communities. Some victims also indicated that they expect the perpetrators to be brought before the court of law thus allowing justice to take its course.

Immediate areas of need that arose from the memorial services

• Considering that 90% of the deceased are males, 22 families were left with no bread winners in both Muzarabani South and North and there is need for coming up with income generating projects for the spouses and children of the victims. Heal Zimbabwe will spearhead the implementation of income generating projects for victims of political violence in Muzarabani commencing in July 2010.
• As a result of the displacement that took place post March elections, 45% of the victims had their homes destroyed and burnt and do not have proper houses hence the need for assistance in shelter reconstruction.
• 105 children have dropped out of school since they no longer have anyone to pay for their school fees and uniforms.
• Many families lost their agricultural equipments and are finding it difficult to restore livelihoods that are mainly agricultural, especially cotton growing and livestock rearing hence need for assisting them with new farming equipment.
• Need to offer counselling services to survivors of political violence and all the affected people as many of them are still traumatised and still living in fear of further victimisation.
• The Organ on National Healing and Reconciliation should engage local communities on the appropriate ways of dealing with the human rights violations.

Conclusion

The Muzarabani community public memorialisation project provided an insight into local communities' perspectives on the national healing and reconciliation process. Communities are remotely aware of the role of the organ on national healing and reconciliation and have grown impatient to inform and guide the process. But as they wait their lives have to go on, children need to go to school and their livelihoods have to be restored. For the process to succeed, the delicate balance between the fears of the perpetrator and the needs and expectations of the victim has to be dealt with amicably. We can only solve the challenges by admitting that local communities should work towards rebuilding and reconstructing the social fibre which has held the Zimbabwean communities together in times of conflict and challenges.

Article VII of the Global Political Agreement calls for the setting up of a mechanism to properly advise on what measures might be necessary and practicable to achieve national healing, cohesion and unity in respect of victims of pre and post independence political conflicts.

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