Page 92 - Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security

ZIMBABWE
“Many people in the area feel
that we are marginalised with regards to national development programmes.“
tHe CHurCH LeADer
mkhululi ncube is a pastor in the Brethren in Christ Church and is based in gwanda in the matabeleland south Province.
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.
‘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
13 (WORLD BANK 2014A)
GRAPHIC
n (2013)
Nevertheless, the traditional role of these leaders is that of uniting people through conflict resolution at a community level; their justice system is meant to build relationships rather than simply punish the offender. The feeling a=m1o0ng.0so0m0e.0in0te0rviewees
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
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.
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INDEX 2013
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
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