Abstract
The paper examines the concept, strengths and shortcomings, role and implementation of the reconciliation policy as Zimbabwe emerged from periods of conflict crisis soon after independence in the 1980s, and the current crisis in the 2000s and how the policy can be introduced in schools through ‘education for reconciliation’. The authors argue that education can be used to cultivate reconciliation and national healing in the evidently ‘wounded’ people of Zimbabwe who bear scars of colonial times and war, and the post-independence conflicts. Reconciliation through education for “diversity” and tolerance makes a compelling argument in so far as we understand how education shapes culture and cultivates values among a people. Education for reconciliation is perceived as a philosophy that promotes respect for human life and human dignity. The paper concludes that education is an instrument for the inculcation and promotion of the epistemic and ontological principles enshrined in the African philosophy of Ubuntu/unhu.
Highlights
When Zimbabwe attained independence on April 16, 1980, the new Prime Minister, Robert Gabriel Mugabe proclaimed a policy of National Reconciliation between the forces that had been fighting during the liberation war
Hapanyengwi-Chemhuru & Shizha an instrument for the inculcation and promotion of the epistemic and ontological principles enshrined in the African philosophy of Ubuntu/unhu
In Zimbabwe, after a decade of gross human rights violations and the atrocities of the early 1980s, and the political violence between 2000 and 2009, people are generally agreed that Zimbabwe needs a transitional justice system and a truth and reconciliation process that guarantee maximum accountability for committed atrocities to facilitate sustainable national healing and peace (Machakanja, 2010)
Summary
Despite growing academic and political attention, the concept of reconciliation is as yet inadequately explored (Loizides, Kovras & Ireton, 2011). In Zimbabwe, after a decade of gross human rights violations and the atrocities of the early 1980s, and the political violence between 2000 and 2009, people are generally agreed that Zimbabwe needs a transitional justice system and a truth and reconciliation process that guarantee maximum accountability for committed atrocities to facilitate sustainable national healing and peace (Machakanja, 2010). Reconciliation involves or leads to the reorientation of the everyday life of all group members concerned It is both a concrete moment and a process which once initiated needs to be sustained. This means that reconciliation requires cooperation of the parties involved in the creation of a new dispensation. There is need for openness about the cause of the conflict, clarity about what is at stake and a willingness to work for the benefit of all
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