Last Tuesday I was at a very enlightening meeting that highlighted a lot of issues in relation to the current economic and political cloud over our country. This particular discussion was headed by a human rights lawyer who was addressing us on Transitional Justice: Forgiving, Forgetting and Reconciliation. He gave us what I think we all need to know about this Transitional Justice thing. One of the issues that springs to mind is that we should create a historical record and prevent repetition of human rights violations. I think that is what we must concentrate on. Because for those who were beaten and stripped of all dignity during election time, to forgive and forget we want to be assured that it’s not going to happen again. The other thing that was raised as a goal for Transitional Justice is that all people should be treated equal before the rule of law. Can you imagine me and a minister being treated the same way before a court to say both you guys committed a crime so you are getting the same sentence. If things could go like this then this country would be heaven. Now one other goal that toppled my day is that Transitional Justice seeks to hopefully reform state and non state institutions. This means that the police will not be pro party but will work on neutral ground. Therefore that would allow me to report policeman so and so for harassment at these pop up road blocks they have. But one thing that got me thinking is: should we go the criminal proceedings way and arrest all people we saw beating us up and taking our livestock? Or should we go the reparations way and say what you took bring back? As for me and my household I say forgetting and forgiving is the way to go. Don’t know about you?

This entry was posted on August 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm by Zanele Manhenga and is filed under Governance, Inspiration, Reflections, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.