NPRC urged to use all local languages in conflict resolution

COMMISSIONERS with the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) must be conversant with the country’s languages to gain the trust of the people as well as avoid being labelled along tribal lines when resolving conflicts.

Speaker of National Assembly Jacob Mudenda made the remarks yesterday in Mutare at a review workshop of the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission by the Portfolio Committee on Justice Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the Thematic Committee on Human Rights.

The commission is made up of nine commissioners and is led by retired judge Justice Selo Masole Nare.

“As commissioners, you should be schooled in most of the country’s languages, if you are going to be trusted, you should avoid to be labelled as only Ndebele or only Shona-speaking persons because you would be labelled,” Mudenda said.

“I am a Tonga, but I am schooled in various languages, I taught Ndebele up to ‘O’ Level, so I am urging you to know most languages in the country if you are going to avoid being labelled, the issue of languages is a very serious issue when dealing with past and current issues,” he said.

Addressing the same gathering, commissioner Golden Chekenyere said the commission was under staffed.

“As a commission, we are under staffed and we are struggling with resources to carry out our duties, we need resources to deliver our constitutional mandate,” he said.

The NPRC is an independent commission set up in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. Its constitutional mandate and legal framework provide the foundation upon which the commission unites Zimbabweans for sustainable peace by resolving conflicts of the past, dealing with current conflicts and preventing the recurrence of conflicts in the future.