A COALITION fronted by former Vice President Joice Mujuru, the People’s Rainbow Coalition (PRC), has scoffed at the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), saying it would not achieve its goals as long as truth recovery was not a component of their mandate.

Addressing the media in Gweru last week on the side-lines of the coalition’s meeting with prospective legislators and Senators, PRC Secretary General Gorden Moyo, said national healing cannot be achieved as long as truth recovery was not a component of the Commission’s mandate.

The eight member commission led by Retired Justice Selo Masole Nare which was appointed in 2016 came into operation earlier this year when President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed the NPRC bill into law.

Established under Sections 251 to 253 of the constitution the NPRC is to ensure post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation, develop programmes to promote unity and peaceful conflict resolution and will run for the next 10 years.

“The construction of the NPRC is weak,” Moyo told journalists.

“What the country is yearning for is healing. We want national integration in the country and people want to be healed,” he said.

Moyo said acknowledgment of past atrocities and truth recovery are key if the country is to be healed.

The newly founded state of Zimbabwe, early 1980s, was thrown in turmoil in which some 20, 000 civilians were killed at the hands of the military in the southern parts of the country under the then Prime Minister Robert Mugabe.

Government, to heal with the scars of the past atrocities, has established a stand-alone ministry of National Healing and Reconciliation which is currently headed by Vice President Kembo Mohadi.

Civil societies and some political parties feel that government has not yet done enough to address the past atrocities especially the Gukurahundi issue.

“For the NPRC to achieve its goals there is need for truth recovery. Truth heals and it will lead to proper reintegration in the society,” said Moyo.

“There must be justice for the affected communities. There is need for reparations for the victims; above all there must be truth recovery,” he said.

Though he was the then State Security Minister, Mnangagwa has since denied accusations that he played an active role in the Gukurahundi massacres.

He has instead called for the country to “let bygones be bygones” and give the NPRC a chance to deal with the emotive issue.

However, the commissioners have met with ridicule in Bulawayo where they were forced to abandon a meeting after activists accused them of bias.