ABSTRACT
Transitional justice scholars have identified a number of methods for dealing with human rights abuses, and these include trials, truth-seeking methods, reparations and memorialization programmes. Zimbabwe made its passage from Rhodesia between 1979 and 1980, which was the Cold War period and when human rights enforcement at the UN level was passive. The story of Zimbabwe is the story of most countries with a colonial past that have to address a legacy of impunity, which was largely fostered by the colonial encounter. The same logic extends to the preference for trials as a transitional justice mechanism as it derives its precedent from placing human rights violators on trial in the aftermath of a Western war. Awarding compensation to individuals when the vast majority of the people in the country are poor cannot be equated to the advancement of justice, and this explains the number of false human rights abuse allegations.
