Reconciliation and transitional justice processes in Zimbabwe since 2008: The Role of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC)

Abstract

In recent years, the issue of national reconciliation and transitional justice has become a subject of varying contention and significance especially in countries emerging from deep-seated conflicts punctuated with egregious human rights abuses. This has led to the proliferation of a huge corpus of global and regional literature in response to the establishment of TRCs seeking to offer peace, healing, truth, restorative justice and reconciliation. Drawing on the Zimbabwean case study, the thesis provides an exploration of reconciliation and transitional justice processes following the 2008 election violence. In doing so, the study critically analyses the role of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) in engendering peace, post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation in contemporary Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has joined this long list of countries that have established TRCs.This study examines the role played by non-state actors as well as assessing the agency and efficacy of such in influencing Zimbabwe’s transitional justice trajectory post- 2008 election violence. The study utilised a qualitative research methodology consisting of interviews, participant observations, case study approach, review of secondary and primary literature involving grey literature to explore citizen perceptions on the role and effectiveness of the NPRC in spearheading transitional justice and reconciliation. The major finding of this exploration is that since its promulgation in 2013, the NPRC has not done much to promote post-conflict justice. As such, the study concludes that the NPRC is a peace architecture that will not achieve the much-desired victim-centred justice judging by its record (thus far). In aiding the analysis of empirical findings, the study utilises a triad of theoretical lenses consisting of repressive state apparatuses (Althusser 1971), place of reconciliation (Lederach 1997) and the truth, accountability, reconciliation and reparation (TARR model) by Weitekamp et al. (2006).The study’s overarching finding is that the success of the NPRC in Zimbabwe is hamstrung by the prevailing political conditions including lack of political will, resources, lack of autonomy and government rigidity. This relates to how authoritarian and repressive regimes impinge on the functioning of TRCs.