Effects of State Capturing of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in Zimbabwe on Sustainable Development

The objective of this chapter is to explore ways through which the trajectory of the stateState captureState capture of truth and reconciliation commissions in ZimbabweZimbabwe could be addressed in the pursuit of sustainable peacePeace. Since the attainment of independence in 1980, the country has experienced successive episodes of political violencePolitical violence and human rightsHuman rights abuses. From the GukurahundiGukurahundi massacres in MatabelelandMatabeleland and Midlands Provinces in the 1980s to the 2008 and 2018 post-electoral violenceViolence, the state has been responsible for unleashing violence on political opponents. In all the cases, stateState-led efforts that have been purported to redress the past have largely been politicised to uncover the truth, compel collective forgetting and deny atrocities. The Dumbutshena and Chihambakwe commissions established to uncover the truth and the Organisation for National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration (ONHRI), National PeacePeace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) established for reconciliation following the 2008 post-election violenceViolence and the Commission of Inquiry into the 1 August Post-election Violence have all been unable to induce sustainable peacePeace arguably due to their politicisationPoliticisation. Consequently, latent conflicts, tribal divisions, impunityImpunity, political instability, violent political contestations, disunity, recurrence of political violencePolitical violence and wanton human rightsHuman rights abuses have continued to threaten sustainable peacePeace in Zimbabwe. Against this background, it is the aim of this chapter to examine historical and recent patterns of transitional justiceTransitional justice and reconciliation in ZimbabweZimbabwe to not only identify complexities, contexts and contingencies thereof, but to rely on historical accounts and recent expressions as well as perspectives in mapping endogenous strategies for addressing the state captureState capture of transitional justiceTransitional justice and reconciliation processes towards sustaining peacePeace. Data for this paper were obtained from secondary sources including books, journal article and newspaper articles as well as through primary research including the observation of the researcher.