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PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa recently thrust into office Justice Selo Masole Nare as the chairperson of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC).
This was after the President signed the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Bill (NPRC) into law to operationalise the Commission that was appointed in 2016.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission Act provides for the functions, powers, operations and removal from office of members of the Commission.
According to Section 252 of the Constitution, the NPRC’s functions are to ensure post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation.
The Constitution says the Commission must develop and implement programmes to promote national healing, unity and cohesion in Zimbabwe and the peaceful resolution of disputes.
The Commission should also bring about national reconciliation by encouraging people to tell the truth about the past and facilitating the making of amends and the provision of justice, among other functions.
The eight-member Commission, appointed in 2014 by former President Robert Mugabe has said it will work hard to leave a legacy of unity, tolerance and national healing.
And its chairperson, Justice Nare recently said they will soon decentralice operations and embark on nationwide public hearings. The Commission has in the past months held stakeholder consultative meetings across the country.
Justice Nare told our sister paper, Chronicle that after the initial consultations, they realised that more still needed to be done hence the decision to decentralise and hold public hearings.
“Our introductory message to the people is come forward, we are here with you; let’s dialogue and then we create space at that time.
One must appreciate that the people are still bleeding from inside from the past happenings and we appreciate that.
Hence the idea to say let’s have an office in Bulawayo where somebody coming from Khami can come in and be able to talk to us because the public can be intimidating at times,” said Justice Nare, a retired Labour Court judge.
“One of the key aspects also is to decentralise and have offices in provinces to ensure that the public has access to those offices. We are on that mission, that’s why I came in because we are looking for offices. So in a couple of weeks we will be having an office here in Bulawayo then we further cascade down to administrative districts.”
On the Mthwakazi Republican Party activists and others who have been disrupting NPRC programmes, Justice Nare said they were concerned about the disturbances, hence they were engaging the groups as they were causing unnecessary delays.
He said they will also engage chiefs and Provincial Affairs Ministers on how they can reach more people before conducting public hearings in the next two or three weeks.
While we acknowledge that everyone has a right to express themselves, we are however, aware that one’s rights should not in any way infringe on the rights of other people.
It is behind that premise that we urge Mthwakazi Republican Party activists, or any other name such like-minded people might choose to use, to desist from disrupting national programmes because, if truth be told, they are violating the rights of other people who want to participate in the programmes of the Commission.
It should also be made known that even if they may use the name “Mthwakazi” they are not uMthwakazi in the actual sense, and they do not represent the people mostly resident in the southern region of the country who might be regarded as part of uMthwakazi in the historical context.
We urge activists who have been disrupting public hearings in Bulawayo and other parts of Matabeleland to stop such barbaric acts and engage in a civil manner so that whatever concerns or issues they might have can be dealt with through proper channels.
That is why the Commission was set up in the first place anyway. Disrupting meetings would mean an opportunity lost for those who are sincere about engaging the Government on issues of national peace and reconciliation.
Online Reporter