Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Page 92

ZIMBABWE

communities, it is not surprising that the political
parties, in particular the ruling party, put a great
deal of pressure on leaders to become members
and to influence their communities against the
other parties. This compromises their impartiality
when dealing with all their subjects, thus posing a
serious threat to human security.

“Many people in
the area feel
that we are
marginalised with
regards to national
development
programmes.“

constitute a committee. The composition of LPCs
varies but includes civil servants, church leaders,
traditional leaders, state security sector actors,
political party leaders, women, youth and other
stakeholders such as organisations operating at
the community level. LPCs build peace in their
communities through creating dialogue spaces
where people engage each other in search of
solutions to their challenges. They also facilitate
peacebuilding sessions. In some situations, they
mediate conflict and act as early warning systems
and work towards addressing human security
concerns in their areas.

13 (WORLD BANK 2014A) the traditional role of these leaders is
Nevertheless,

GRAPHIC
n (2013)

that of uniting people through conflict resolution
at a community level; their justice system is meant
to build relationships rather than simply punish the
=10.000.000
offender. The feeling among some interviewees
is that some of the traditional leaders no longer
provide human security as was the case in the
past. They are deprived of their power to deal with
criminal cases and their judicial role is confined to
civil cases. This issue is being raised as a human
security issue because the chiefs continue to
challenge the modern system and wish to have their
traditional roles restored. It is also a human security
issue when it leads to conflict on the ground when
party politics begin to influence the role and
activities of the traditional leader.
Although the powers of the chiefs have been
reduced, there still remains great potential and
opportunity embedded in the institution of
traditional leaders insofar as it relates to conflict
resolution and community cohesion. These leaders
are custodians of decision making at the community
level. This potential can be used effectively to build
peaceful communities.
Local Peace Committees
The engagement of traditional leaders alongside
other forms of leadership at the community level
– such as politicians, civil society activists and local
authority representatives – has been harnessed
in the development of Local Peace Committees
(LPCs). These arose from a community outreach
and capacity building programme run by the
Ecumenical Church Leaders Forum (ECLF).
The training methodology, which encompasses
Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution
and Transformation (CPMRT), speaks to the
inner person so that peace begins within an
individual. The CPMRT training sessions challenge
communities to own the programme and ensure
its continuation. The programme has been
supported by international and regional partners,
as well as some local donors, and has increasingly
been highlighted as an important community

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
INDEX 2013
92 stories of Human Security | Zimbabwe

156

The Church Leader

Mkhululi Ncube is a pastor in the Brethren in
Christ Church and is based in Gwanda in the
Matabeleland South Province.

Aaron Chimiti, a member of the Kraal Head’s
advisory committee who chairs the ward Local
Peace Committee, says the LPCs have helped to
keep the Kraal Head’s advisory committee intact.
Through the conciliatory work he has been doing,
drawing on the skills he acquired from the trainings,
he has been able to resolve community conflicts:
“It has changed the way we do business in the local
traditional court. If it were not for this programme,
there are people who could have been expelled
from the chief’s advisory committee. I played a
conciliatory role to block the expulsion.” Chimiti
adds that that he has learned to respect the law
through the peacebuilding trainings: “[They] taught
me never to take the law into my own hands as
I am not a lawyer, a magistrate or other trained
officer of the law. People in the community know
that I am a trained peacebuilder and I am seconded
to most cases that require conciliation in the
community.”7

We are afflicted by drought almost every year in
our area. This leads to general hunger and poverty.
People are unable to feed their families and to take
the children to school because they are unable to
earn a livelihood. I think what is required is the
construction of dams and boreholes. People in
the community also need to be capacitated with
agricultural knowledge and expertise. This will
also enable the young people to have livelihoods
and [make it] difficult for them to be abused by
politicians for violent missions.
Gwanda is an area which is populated by various
ethnic groups including the Ndebele, the Sotho,
Venda, and the Shona people. I usually witness
clashes of interests among these groups. Each of
these communities wants to assert their authority
in their areas where they are influential.
Many people in the area feel that we are
marginalised with regards to national development
programmes. They feel that because they are
from Matabeleland, we do not matter much in the
national picture. We have poor road networks and
generally we lag behind in development. We hear
about loans for youth – we assist our youth to
apply but we hardly ever get the loans.

A respondent in Chivi reflects on how the LPCs
have helped address the challenge of peace:
“There have been a lot of violent conflicts between
political parties, particularly towards election
time. We are only starting to manage it now
that we have structures such as the Local Peace
Committee. After attending the training, we
agreed to form an LPC consisting of members of
our community from different backgrounds and
political persuasions. It is through our committee
that we are now able to manage some conflicts.
There are also incidents of domestic violence
that we deal with as LPCs as well as traditional
courts.” Police in Nkayi have reported a significant
reduction of crime and violence since the launch
of the programme in the district. The interviewee
is an active member of the LPC which was
established by the community itself.

‘infrastructure for peace’ which has the potential of
complementing and feeding into the National Peace
and Reconciliation Commission.

LPCs are structures established by community
members to be responsible for peace within their
community. As a practical response to ensure that
peace prevails, communities choose members to

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Community ‘infrastructures for
peace’ have the potential of
complementing and feeding
into the National Peace and
Reconciliation Commission.
Another example is the Mutasa for Peace
Committee in Manicaland, which involves various
stakeholders across the socio-economic, political
and administrative landscape of the Mutasa
district. The committee was set up as a purely
community initiative to address the specific
peace challenges in the community. In recent
testimony, Munodawafa Dube of the Zimbabwe
Republic Police said that the committee had seen
a noticeable change in police records thanks to
the LPC’s work on mitigating political conflicts:
“The Mutasa for Peace Committee has made
our policing work easier. In the run up to the
elections last year we hardly got any serious cases
of politically motivated violence as compared to
previous elections due to the peace work of this
committee. The more common cases these days
are domestic violence, boundary disputes and
public nuisance cases. I think we have reached
a point where we can refer some cases to the
committee. I urge them to set up a reference desk
in a public area. We work very well with them and
they never do anything without the involvement of
the police.”
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Health and
Child Welfare in Mutasa also noted the decrease
in injuries caused by politically motivated violence
at the district referral hospital: “At the hospitals in
the district we had become accustomed to treating
people with axes in their heads. We have seen
some of the ugliest wounds caused by all sorts of
dangerous weapons, mainly due to political violence
towards the 2008 elections. This has changed
drastically in the community as we have been
seeing fewer cases of politically motivated violence.
People say that this committee, with members from
various parties, has played a role in bringing down
the violence.”8
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