Worse still, the political violence did not only cost life and limb, but its devastating effect on Zimbabwe’s already desperate humanitarian situation will be felt for a long time to come.

Several hundreds of people died, their homes razed, cattle and grain reaped from them while many others were raped.

Some villagers report that they were dragged from their homes, their grain and cattle dragged along with them to torture bases set by war veterans and Zanu PF supporters. While the victims were being assaulted, some fatally, their cattle were being slaughtered to restore the energy used in their beatings by their abusers.

In Zaka, three young men, all married, told of the trauma and pain they were going through since the events that left some of them defaced. Isaac, Edson and Kudakwashe said they were struggling to feed their families and to raise medical fees for periodic reviews for injuries incurred when a petrol bomb was thrown into their houses by suspected Zanu PF activists. That changed their lives for the worst.

Such are the gory tales of the violence of yesteryear that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party says left more than 200 of its members dead.

What pains Isaac, Edson and Kudakwashe, and many other victims of such acts, is that the perpetrators of their pain are still walking the streets, still bragging about how effective the attack was. Worse still, for the three, the perpetrators are promising a “return of fire” keeping their victims in a cocoon.

“We know the people who petrol-bombed us. They are free because the police have refused to arrest them. It is painful to see the people who caused us this pain walking scot free,” the three said in an interview at Jerera Growth point last week.

Child headed family

While Isaac, Edson and Kudakwashe are battling to make ends meet, in Chipinge a child-headed family is once in a while reminded of the death of their parents by the same perpetrators. The eldest of the children is 15 years old.

Last week, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was told that the child-headed family failed to attend his public meeting having been threatened with further torment.

“The perpetrators went to the homestead and told the children that Zanu PF militia would come back to finish what they started,” Kelvin Kajayi told Tsvangirai at the meeting.

At the height of the political violence, Zanu PF militia destroyed part of the house that the child-headed family is living in. The militia then dragged the children’s parents to a base at Musanhi where they were assaulted until they died. The police have not acted even if a report was filed.

The security sector and the judiciary, key organs in national healing and reconciliation, have not been transformed into non-partisan apolitical sectors and therefore “it will take a while for national healing to be realized”, according to University of Zimbabwe lecturer and political scientist John Makumbe.

“Not any time soon because Zanu PF is very reluctant to reform the security structures and it has said so openly that the security structures will not be reformed. The security structures have become an appendage of Zanu PF as a party. To reform them is essentially to reform Zanu PF and it is like political surgery where certain parts of the body are removed from the body and it becomes wheelchair bound. It is like decapitating the party,” said Makumbe.

The MDC has called for justice demanding that perpetrators be brought to book, heightening temperatures as Zanu PF has jumped to the defence of the perpetrators, casting a dark shadow on the continued existence of the organ on national healing.

Hamstrung by lack of legislative framework, capacity and political will, the transitional government’s troika on National Healing and Reconciliation has so far failed to justify its existence.

The organ has so far held meetings only with chiefs. It has not articulated any programme of action in line with its mandate. John Nkomo, a co-minister in organ was elevated to Vice President leaving Sekai Holland and Gibson Sibanda almost dysfunctional.

Programme on course

But Holland said the national healing programme was on course.

“We are going to conduct workshops on national healing. Our moto in national healing is: An eye for an eye makes Zimbabwe blind- Peace begins with me, peace begins with you, peace begins with us,” said Holland.

Political scientist Makumbe feels that transitional justice was the only way forward, before the proposed constitution making process is carried out. An outreach to gather views for a new constitution is scheduled to commence next month.

“The Global Political Agreement (GPA) makes provision for the reforms of the army, the police and the youth militia in terms of training. Reforming these institutions means that you are limiting Zanu PF capacity to use them for partisan purposes. So the reforms are going to be strenuously resisted by Zanu PF and that will jeopardize a number of other reforms. For instance, the constitutional process will be threatened and even if the constitution is written, the referendum is threatened,” said Makumbe.

While the politicians continue to haggle over reforms, victims of the gory period remain traumatized and not sure whether they will receive compensation for their looted property.

“It is so traumatic and it is also disappointing to the victims that the MDC seems to be towing the Zanu PF line and it is not agitating enough for transitional justice,” said Makumbe.