A TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION PROCESS FOR ZIMBABWE? SOME PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

This paper considers African and other truth commissions and applies the lessons and experiences of other countries in order to map a strategy and offer a model for a Zimbabwean truth and reconciliation commission. Given Zimbabwe’s history (especially over the last three years) of collective violence and serious human rights abuses, the paper proposes that a truth commission in post-transition Zimbabwe might be an important means of promoting reconciliation and reducing past tensions. To this end the paper focuses on the manner in which a future Zimbabwean truth and reconciliation commission might be established. The paper also provides a briefsynopsis of the topic of amnesty and considers how an amnesty process might be accommodated within a future Zimbabwean truth and reconciliation comission and how such amnesty process might be reconciled with the imperative of prosecuting offenders in light of the recently created International Criminal Court.&nbsp