Taking Transitional Justice to the People: Challenges for Civil Society in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Between 2009 and 2011, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum began a daring project on transitional justice. Practically and conceptually, undertaking work on transitional justice in Zimbabwe, particularly in the rural areas, was an exercise of brave hearts at a time when the state did not tolerate any institution that would brook the idea. Transitional justice was a new concept in a country used to widespread rights abuses, and the government did not want to hear about a transitional justice process as it could excite or incite people to demand accountability for everything, including gross human rights violations. Taking Transitional Justice to the People was a flagship outreach programme that sowed the seeds of the current narrative for dealing with the past in Zimbabwe. The Forum had more sceptics in civil society than friends, as very few understood transitional justice or believed it to be a viable option for the Zimbabwean situation. Technically, transitional justice as a practice, process and norm had no local presence. It was viewed as foreign, an imposition from Western countries with the mischievous idea of changing the regime. Yet the citizens wanted the idea, even with little understanding of what was in it for them. A review of the Forum’s outreach programme assists in unravelling the transitional justice practitioner’s paradox in a country that appears not to be undergoing any form of transition.