A Zimbabwean human rights activist based in South Africa has said the country is not yet in a transitional stage but was still mired in a crisis.
Speaking at a public lecture organised as part of the Ideas Festival at a hotel in Bulawayo Lloyd Kuveya, a former magistrate and now legal practitioner with the Southern African Litigation Centre, said what was happening in the country was the designing of frameworks to allow for the beginning of the transition.
“Zimbabwe is not a country in transition but a country in crisis. Many people have said we have a transitional government, but what we are doing is to design frameworks to allow for the beginning of the transition.
“We still don’t have a constitution but are relying on a patched up document that does not accord all languages equality nor does it recognizes all regions similarly. There is a lot of uncertainty as to when we are going to have elections.
“We are not yet in transition. Transition is when the country has started on a new page. In the current scenario, you can’t even talk about the security sector reform without getting a backlash from the state. If you are in a transition you won’t set up an organ for national healing but an independent body that will open up to the participation of everybody including the civil society,” he said.
Kuveya said minority rights have, since independence, been trampled upon in Zimbabwe and still continue to be violated.
He cited the San people in Matabeleland North, the Tonga people in Matabeleland North, the Marange people in Manicaland, the Ndebele people in Matabeleland and parts of Midlands, white people, gays and prisoners as the minority people who have been violated by the state.
Abel Chikomo, executive director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, concurred with Kuveya that Zimbabwe was still in a crisis.
“We are a country in crisis. In our country we tend to confuse the security of the state and the security of certain individuals or a certain party,” he said.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in August said Zimbabwe was teetering on the brink of a major political crisis and warned that the country would slide into a scenario reminiscent of Ivory Coast if service chiefs failed to recognise any election winner other than President Robert Mugabe.
“The people of Zimbabwe are once again on the frontline in the war for freedom and rights and the fledgling democracy that was to grow following the signing of the new transitional government in 2009 is under threat. The struggle unfolding in Zimbabwe is one that pits good over evil, right against wrong and freedom against tyranny,” he said.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
“There would be no transitional justice without prosecutions and reparations”
Bulawayo - Two leading regional human rights activists have said Zimbabwe is day dreaming of transitional justice if there are no prosecutions of perpetrators of human rights violations and reparations for the victims.
Addressing over 500 people at the Ideas Festival public lecture at a local hotel Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist, John Ngaii Gikonyo, said, as they had learnt over years in Kenya, there can never be transitional justice (TJ) outside prosecutions and reparations.
“The primary objective of TJ is to end a culture of impunity because impunity is the fertilizer of genocide. You must confront the past, you must audit the state and you must rid the country of the ghost of the past,” he said.
In the aftermath of the December 2007 elections violence broke out in Kenya between the supporters of rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga killing 1 200 and displacing 6 000.
After the disputed December 30 results, protests degenerated into widespread violence as decades of economic frustration and ethnic rivalry spiraled out of control.
The United Nations (UN) warned that a repeat of the problems could occur after next year’s presidential election unless institutions are strengthened and the perpetrators of the 2007 violence are punished.
On 15 December 2010, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, requested the ICC to issue summonses ordering six prominent Kenyan citizens that included senior officials of the three arms of the police and members of the government - to appear before it to face justice for grave human rights violations in the post-election period.
Gikonyo said it was important that certain individuals be prosecuted so that neighbours could trust each other again.
“Unless there is prosecution of certain individuals, there will always be a feeling that this was committed by such and such a tribe,” he said.
Lloyd Kuveya, a former magistrate and now legal practitioner with the Southern African Litigation Centre, said the African Union (AU) was developing a mechanism for transitional justice in African countries.
“Sadly, Zimbabwe is not involved because of the squabbling in the inclusive government. The UN is waiting on the wings to help with transitional justice where there will be reparations and truth will be dealt with. If the country (Zimbabwe) does not confront issues of atrocities from the early 1980s to today, it will not be surprising if the international community intervenes,” he said.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamsa, however, on Monday last week, defended the country’s human rights record at the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review in Geneva.
“Zimbabwe is a member of the international community and remains committed to its obligations on human rights. We adopted among others laws on the protection of children and orphans, laws against family violence and laws that ensure the rights of NGOs working in our country," he said.
Addressing over 500 people at the Ideas Festival public lecture at a local hotel Kenyan lawyer and human rights activist, John Ngaii Gikonyo, said, as they had learnt over years in Kenya, there can never be transitional justice (TJ) outside prosecutions and reparations.
“The primary objective of TJ is to end a culture of impunity because impunity is the fertilizer of genocide. You must confront the past, you must audit the state and you must rid the country of the ghost of the past,” he said.
In the aftermath of the December 2007 elections violence broke out in Kenya between the supporters of rivals Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga killing 1 200 and displacing 6 000.
After the disputed December 30 results, protests degenerated into widespread violence as decades of economic frustration and ethnic rivalry spiraled out of control.
The United Nations (UN) warned that a repeat of the problems could occur after next year’s presidential election unless institutions are strengthened and the perpetrators of the 2007 violence are punished.
On 15 December 2010, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, requested the ICC to issue summonses ordering six prominent Kenyan citizens that included senior officials of the three arms of the police and members of the government - to appear before it to face justice for grave human rights violations in the post-election period.
Gikonyo said it was important that certain individuals be prosecuted so that neighbours could trust each other again.
“Unless there is prosecution of certain individuals, there will always be a feeling that this was committed by such and such a tribe,” he said.
Lloyd Kuveya, a former magistrate and now legal practitioner with the Southern African Litigation Centre, said the African Union (AU) was developing a mechanism for transitional justice in African countries.
“Sadly, Zimbabwe is not involved because of the squabbling in the inclusive government. The UN is waiting on the wings to help with transitional justice where there will be reparations and truth will be dealt with. If the country (Zimbabwe) does not confront issues of atrocities from the early 1980s to today, it will not be surprising if the international community intervenes,” he said.
Justice minister Patrick Chinamsa, however, on Monday last week, defended the country’s human rights record at the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review in Geneva.
“Zimbabwe is a member of the international community and remains committed to its obligations on human rights. We adopted among others laws on the protection of children and orphans, laws against family violence and laws that ensure the rights of NGOs working in our country," he said.
National Healing Must be Tied to the New Constitution and a New Government
Zimbabwe should tie the national healing programme to the constitutional rewriting process and hope for a new government after the next plebiscite so that it can succeed, a member of the civic society has said.
Addressing participants at the Ideas Festival organized by Bulawayo Agenda last weekend, Matabeleland Constitutional reform Agenda (Macra) leader, Effie Ncube, said national healing must be legislated for it
to succeed.
“The first thing that we should do is to ensure that we strengthen the constitutional process and then the national healing programme should be a central part of it.
“We need a legislative framework that defines and composes the national healing body so that we also know who they are reporting to. It has to be a credible body with credible individuals in it. It has
to be a multi-stakeholder body. We also have to devolve its operations so that it does not have to remain in Harare. It has to be found in Bulawayo, Plumtree, Mutare, Victoria falls and other places. If we have police stations in every 10 kilometers, we can have this body as well,” he said.
Ncube said the top leadership in the country has to be challenged to speak out on national healing.
“I have never heard of a national address or any leader addressing the nation on national healing. I am yet to hear an address aimed at healing the nation. We want the president and the prime minister to
pronounce clearly where they stand on national healing,” he said.
The co-minister in the organ of national healing, reconciliation and integration (ONHRI), Moses Mzila Ndlovu, said President Mugabe will address the nation at a function to be held in Bulawayo before the end of the year.
“We will have belated World Peace Day celebrations here in Bulawayo and the people of Bulawayo should come in their numbers and hear President Mugabe speak on these issues,” he said.
Ncube said the current government was, “better than the pre-2008 government but it is not clean enough for this process”.
“For this process to succeed we will need a new government,” he said.
Addressing participants at the Ideas Festival organized by Bulawayo Agenda last weekend, Matabeleland Constitutional reform Agenda (Macra) leader, Effie Ncube, said national healing must be legislated for it
to succeed.
“The first thing that we should do is to ensure that we strengthen the constitutional process and then the national healing programme should be a central part of it.
“We need a legislative framework that defines and composes the national healing body so that we also know who they are reporting to. It has to be a credible body with credible individuals in it. It has
to be a multi-stakeholder body. We also have to devolve its operations so that it does not have to remain in Harare. It has to be found in Bulawayo, Plumtree, Mutare, Victoria falls and other places. If we have police stations in every 10 kilometers, we can have this body as well,” he said.
Ncube said the top leadership in the country has to be challenged to speak out on national healing.
“I have never heard of a national address or any leader addressing the nation on national healing. I am yet to hear an address aimed at healing the nation. We want the president and the prime minister to
pronounce clearly where they stand on national healing,” he said.
The co-minister in the organ of national healing, reconciliation and integration (ONHRI), Moses Mzila Ndlovu, said President Mugabe will address the nation at a function to be held in Bulawayo before the end of the year.
“We will have belated World Peace Day celebrations here in Bulawayo and the people of Bulawayo should come in their numbers and hear President Mugabe speak on these issues,” he said.
Ncube said the current government was, “better than the pre-2008 government but it is not clean enough for this process”.
“For this process to succeed we will need a new government,” he said.
National healing must be tied to the new constitution and a new government y Khanyile Mlotshwa
Zimbabwe should tie the national healing programme to the constitutional rewriting process and hope for a new government after the next plebiscite so that it can succeed, a member of the civic society has said.
Addressing participants at the Ideas Festival organized by Bulawayo Agenda last weekend, Matabeleland Constitutional reform Agenda (Macra) leader, Effie Ncube, said national healing must be legislated for it
to succeed.
“The first thing that we should do is to ensure that we strengthen the constitutional process and then the national healing programme should be a central part of it.
“We need a legislative framework that defines and composes the national healing body so that we also know who they are reporting to. It has to be a credible body with credible individuals in it. It has
to be a multi-stakeholder body. We also have to devolve its operations so that it does not have to remain in Harare. It has to be found in Bulawayo, Plumtree, Mutare, Victoria falls and other places. If we have police stations in every 10 kilometers, we can have this body as well,” he said.
Ncube said the top leadership in the country has to be challenged to speak out on national healing.
“I have never heard of a national address or any leader addressing the nation on national healing. I am yet to hear an address aimed at healing the nation. We want the president and the prime minister to
pronounce clearly where they stand on national healing,” he said.
The co-minister in the organ of national healing, reconciliation and integration (ONHRI), Moses Mzila Ndlovu, said President Mugabe will address the nation at a function to be held in Bulawayo before the end of the year.
“We will have belated World Peace Day celebrations here in Bulawayo and the people of Bulawayo should come in their numbers and hear President Mugabe speak on these issues,” he said.
Ncube said the current government was, “better than the pre-2008 government but it is not clean enough for this process”.
“For this process to succeed we will need a new government,” he said.
Addressing participants at the Ideas Festival organized by Bulawayo Agenda last weekend, Matabeleland Constitutional reform Agenda (Macra) leader, Effie Ncube, said national healing must be legislated for it
to succeed.
“The first thing that we should do is to ensure that we strengthen the constitutional process and then the national healing programme should be a central part of it.
“We need a legislative framework that defines and composes the national healing body so that we also know who they are reporting to. It has to be a credible body with credible individuals in it. It has
to be a multi-stakeholder body. We also have to devolve its operations so that it does not have to remain in Harare. It has to be found in Bulawayo, Plumtree, Mutare, Victoria falls and other places. If we have police stations in every 10 kilometers, we can have this body as well,” he said.
Ncube said the top leadership in the country has to be challenged to speak out on national healing.
“I have never heard of a national address or any leader addressing the nation on national healing. I am yet to hear an address aimed at healing the nation. We want the president and the prime minister to
pronounce clearly where they stand on national healing,” he said.
The co-minister in the organ of national healing, reconciliation and integration (ONHRI), Moses Mzila Ndlovu, said President Mugabe will address the nation at a function to be held in Bulawayo before the end of the year.
“We will have belated World Peace Day celebrations here in Bulawayo and the people of Bulawayo should come in their numbers and hear President Mugabe speak on these issues,” he said.
Ncube said the current government was, “better than the pre-2008 government but it is not clean enough for this process”.
“For this process to succeed we will need a new government,” he said.
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