Recommendations and Conclusion Zimbabwe Peace Project To stimulate judicial appetite for dealing with VAWP cases, the government must train office bearers in the Judicial Service Commission on VAWP so that they apply the knowledge in their interpretation of the law and in making rulings on cases that relate to VAWP. They can also use the knowledge in updating existing remedies that are available to survivors of VAWP. Judges who are trained on VAWP can entertain lawsuits on VAWP more, they can make rulings ordering compensation of survivors and reinstatement of office bearers forced to resign because of VAWP. The Judicial Service Commission must develop a Judges’ Guide on Adjudicating Electoral Disputes from a Gender Perspective. It must develop a Training Manual/Curriculum for Electoral Courts on VAWP. This would trigger the appetite of the judges to prosecute perpetrators of VAWP and to pass deterrent sentences against them. Similar training can also be extended to the Members of the Republic Police so that they are gender sensitive in their law enforcement and so that they speedily process complaints on VAWP. The government must design, develop and implement programs aimed at enhancing the technical capacity of ZEC to deal with 9 VAWP. Such programs may include analysing the voter and candidate registration procedures, flagging out barriers that these processes pose to women’s participation and propose ways of breaking these barriers. ZEC must have extensive jurisdiction over political party conduct, including enforcement of gender quota laws. The government, through the Zimbabwe Media Commission, must work through the media to increase the visibility of gender equality concerns. This entails making the media a critical ally in all its forms as a powerful vehicle for denouncing violence and transforming public perceptions of women as leaders equally legitimate to men. The media must be capacitated to dismantle widely held notions that VAWP is normal. The Zimbabwe Media Commission, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, must therefore train both state and non-state media on gender sensitive reporting 25

Select target paragraph3