THE National Peace and Reconciliation Commission came out of the people’s Constitution of 2013 Amendment number 20 Chapter 12 part 6, section 251 which provides for the establishment of the commission. The idea of adopting a comprehensive bottom-up approach that involves the participation of affected communities was mooted at Africa level. It was agreed that Africa was experiencing violent conflicts and there was need to adopt new approaches in dealing with the said conflicts as previous methods of intervention after the conflict were ineffective and costly. The new approach was to adopt a comprehensive fashion in dealing with conflicts which means conflict transformation had to deal with past violent conflicts, manage current and unfolding conflicts as well as prevent future conflicts developing into violent ones. The second aspect of the new approach was the involvement of affected communities in the conflict transformation process. Previous approaches were elite agreements and political settlements with very little or no involvement of communities affected. It was felt that a nation can only be said to have been healed if its people participate in the healing process and feel satisfied that justice has been served. The process does not only include affected communities but involves perpetrators (now referred to as adversely mentioned people because the word perpetrator relegates the person beyond reform and rehabilitation) and unaffected communities. Unaffected communities can act as a support mechanism to affected communities and will also appreciate the need for peaceful coexistence. The third aspect of conflict transformation adopted by Africa was to address the root causes of conflicts. To avoid conflicts recurrence, it is imperative to address the root causes. The last aspect was the need for each government to fund the healing process in its country. This would demonstrate its political will and commitment in resolving conflicts. There must have also been fear that if foreign governments took full responsibility to resolve conflicts of another nation, they may dictate the kind of justice they wish rather than what local communities desire. It is against this background that Zimbabwe put constitutional provisions to set up the NPRC. The NPRC is an independent commission. The independence of the commission sets it apart from other national healing arrangements like government-led Truth for Reconciliation Commission of Thailand (TRCT) or International Commission of Inquiry for Burundi or Cabinet-led Organ for National Healing Reconciliation and Integration. The law provides that the commission is not subject to the direction or control of an individual and must act without fear, favour or prejudice. This means that it is not directed by donors, civil society, churches, government or any such. The said stakeholders have a constitutional obligation to assist the commission in dispensing its mandate without influencing its work. The commission’s mandate is to deal with past conflicts as enshrined in its function (