The National Transitional Justice Working Group in Zimbabwe (NTJWG) says transitional justice is long overdue in the country as perpetrators and victims of human rights abuses are dying and others now very old, yet their cases have not been dealt with.
LUYANDUHLOBO MAKWATI OWN CORRESPONDENT Addressing journalists at the press club, NTJWG chairman Alec Muchadehama said there was need for non-State actors to ensure that the government, through its organs, corrected past wrongdoings.
“We are working with various organisations and we are looking forward to seeing all non-State actors joining us as we work towards correcting past imbalances that happened in the country,” he said.
Muchadehama said whether the government was willing to talk about the past or not, it was the sole duty of Zimbabweans to stand up and challenge it to make sure that organs meant to deal with such issues were commissioned as soon as possible so that people could be free to bring perpetrators to book.
“Whether the government is willing or not, it is important that Zimbabweans push for commissioning of the peace and reconciliation laws as stated in Section 253 of the country’s Constitution,” he said.
The organisation, which was formed recently, came up as a result of 46 non-governmental organisations who mooted the idea of coming up with such a platform, saying the Zimbabwean civil sector was not dealing well with some of the problems that affected ordinary citizens in the past.
Their mission is to create space for the co-ordination of transitional justice stakeholders to share experiences and build synergies for comprehensive accountability of victim-centred and transitional justice processes in Zimbabwe.
