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Garwe, Paddington. The Zimbabwe community service scheme

Community service as an alternative to incarceration came into existence in Zimbabwe following an amendment to the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act in 1992. In this address, Justice Paddington Garwe first discusses conditions regarding incarceration in general in African countries; then he turns specifically to the Zimbabwe community service scheme. He examines its background, structure, supervisors, coordination and supervision of community service orders, guidelines for magistrates, the role of the judiciary and the public, and problems that affected the scheme.

McCandless, Erin. The case of land in Zimbabwe: Cause of conflict, foundation for peace

As land ownership has been and continues to be a major source of conflict in Zimbabwe, the question of land reform raises intense issues: how can land or other resources be redistributed in a just manner and toward just ends, fostering reconciliation and promoting sustainable human development? To deal with these issues, McCandless begins by examining aspects of reconciliation and justice theory on protracted social conflict, especially as such theorizing proposes a hybrid justice-reconciliation conceptual framework. He then applies these ideas to the case of land reform in Zimbabwe: post-independence policy; the government's approaches; the international community's role; challenges and opportunities as presented by stakeholders; the work of non-governmental organizations; and land redistribution toward a sustainable just peace.

Stern, Vivien. An Alternative Vision; Criminal Justice Developments in Non-Western Countries

Vivien Stern begins this article by remarking that criminal justice policy in the United States and many other Western countries appears to be taking a punitive and exclusionary direction. Yet, she continues, there are different and encouraging developments in countries of the former Soviet Union, South Asia, and Africa. To substantiate her perspective, Stern surveys statistics on incarceration in the U.S. and other countries, which she then compares with criminal justice alternatives being developed and tried in Canada, countries of the former Soviet Union, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

van der Merwe, Hugo. Reparations in Southern Africa

This one is among the first comparative studies of reparation in the light of transitional justice in Southern Africa largely unexplored, save of course for South Africa. At the core of the South African transformation is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) considered by some to be "the most far-reaching and the most effective of its genre". Similarly, South Africa's Reparation and Rehabilitation Committee of the TRC is the source of scholarly and policy debates in transitional justice circles worldwide. Yet, despite its popularity, South Africa's transitional process merits critical examination especially needed with the reparation issue which generated controversy and acrimony. This study seeks to add to the growing literature on reparations to victims of human rights abuses in the context of a political transition, by examining the experiences of South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and Mozambique in developing official, non-judicial reparation programmes for victims/survivors of human rights abuses. For each country, the study explores: the nature of the political transition; the nature of the human rights violations or political atrocities that took place; the identifiable needs arising as consequences from human rights violations; programmes (if any) aimed at providing "reparation" and their targeted beneficiaries; factors accounting for the development (or non-development) of these programmes; and the consequences of the reparation programmes. Any debate on overcoming an unjust past ultimately has to deal with the issue of reparation, which should not be confused with reconstruction or reconciliation. (excerpt)