MUTARE– National Peace and Reconciliation (NPRC) commissioners can rid racial labels by learning the country’s languages and improve their interaction with the public, a top official has said.
Speaker of National Assembly Jacob Mudenda made the remarks recently at a review workshop of the national peace and reconciliation commission for 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 Justice Selo Masole Nare.
Mudenda said the ability to converse in most of the country’s languages will gain trust of the people and avoiding racial labelled when dealing resolving past and current conflicts, some which are tribal.
“As commissioners you should be schooled in most of the country’s languages if you are going to be trusted, you should be avoid to be labelled as only Ndebele or only Shona speaking person because you would be labelled.
“I am a Tonga but l am schooled in various languages, l taught Ndebele up to O level, so l am urging you to know most languages in the country if you are going to avoid to be labelled, the issue of languages it’s a very serious issue when dealing with past and current issues,” said Mudenda.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission is an Independent Commission set up in terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
The NPRC’s 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.
One of the NPRC commissioners Golden Chekenyere said the commission was failing to achieve some of its strategic objectives due to limited resources and understaffing.
“As a commission we are under staffed and we are struggling with resources to carry out with our duties, we need resources to deliver our constitutional mandate,” he said.
.
