Dr. Tinashe Rukuni studied for his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Public Administration specializing in Peace Studies with the Durban University of Technology (2019). His Thesis was on Transforming post-conflict relationships via peace gardens in Masvingo; Zimbabwe. He also hold the following qualifications; a Master of Science degree in Peace, Leadership and Conflict Resolution from the Zimbabwe Open University (2012), a Graduate Certificate in Education from the University of Zimbabwe (2003), a Post-Graduate Certificate of Proficiency in Peace, Leadership and Conflict Transformation from the National University of Science and Technology (2014)  and a Bachelor of Divinity degree from Africa University (1997).

Dr Rukuni is a peacebuilding and conflict resolution expert whose passion in the field dates back to the early 1990s. His areas of interest include conflict prevention, use of local intervention strategies and infrastructures for peace in resolving conflicts, post-conflict transformation and the use of nonviolence in resolving conflicts. He carried out his action research study in Masvingo province where he encouraged local communities to use the “peace gardening” model as a tool for transforming post-conflict relationships. He has published in key peacebuilding and gender related issues, including the role of traditional leadership in peacebuilding, the role of religion in peacebuilding, the efficacy of community peacebuilding in African communities, the role of the youth in peacebuilding, the role of women in peacebuilding and decision making processes and the use of narrative therapy in peacebuilding among his other publications. He served as a high school teacher for eighteen years in Bikita district where he taught Divinity and History and was renowned for introducing the concept of “peace clubs” in secondary schools. Upon his appointment as a Commissioner in the NPRC, Dr Rukuni was a full-time lecturer and programme coordinator at Great Zimbabwe University in the Peace and Security programme. He was also a part-time tutor in the Peace programme with the Zimbabwe Open University (Masvingo Regional Campus). He has voluntary placement experiences with Plan International Mutare, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (Masvingo Diocese) and the International Centre for Nonviolence (Durban). He is the Founder and Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Gardening Trust which specializes in peacebuilding, community empowerment, mediation and Alternative to Violence projects. He is a member of Peace Direct.

Dr Moyo holds a PhD in Theology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa which research centered on marital conflict arising from fertility and barrenness and mechanisms for resolution of such conflict.   She also holds a Masters Degree from Luther Seminary in Minnesota, USA where she wrote a Dissertation on the conflict of the land issue in Zimbabwe. She is also a graduate of the University of Zimbabwe where she attained her BA Honours with a dissertation on the “Varemba Culture in Zimbabwe”. She holds a certificate in counselling, and completed a course in Israel on peace and reconciliation. In Israel, through the joint operation of the United Nations and the Lutheran School of Theology in Jerusalem, she had the opportunity to participate in the navigation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and peacebuilding in that context.

Profession as a Pastor

• As an ordained pastor of the Lutheran Church for 31 years, she has served the church in different capacities and brings varied experiences. As a scholar, she has presented her work at multiple workshops and conferences across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and lectured at the United Theological College (Zimbabwe) for 11 years where she also held the position of Academic Dean responsible for counselling and mediation of, and among, the study body. Dr Moyo’s service in the church included her appointment as Dean of the Martin Luther Deanery from 2007 to 2017, and a member of the ELCZ’s Ministerial Board for 21 years. Throughout her career, she has been passionate about putting research to action, particularly regarding education and gender issues. This led to her appointment to the Lutheran World Federation’s Advisory Committee for Theological Education in Africa, among other appointments, and her present role as Zimbabwe Coordinator for Miske Witt and Associates International – an education-oriented INGO. She was also appointed by the church to serve in the Committee for  international organization Black Lutheran Theologians which was meant to unite and promote  the study of black theology in Africa and in  the diaspora. She is also a member of the Concerned Female Theologians in Africa, a body which looks into the gender issues from a theological perspective.

• The Lutheran Church is a church largely concentrated in Matebeleland and the Midlands. The church is burdened by tribalism, and for the 10 years that she served as Dean (this is an administrative role). She undertook a significant amount of work in mediation and unifying the church along tribal lines. One of her strengths in discharging this duty was the fact that she speaks both Ndebele and Shona fluently and that she has an understanding of other minority languages in the regions.

• The Lutheran church also participates in peace and reconciliation through the Zimbabwe Council of Churches, within which Dr Moyo served on the board and on various committees for 10 years. One of the major tasks was to address conflicts among churches and conflicts within the nation, which she continues to do.

• Her counselling skills as pastor would very much contribute to her reconciliatory ability within the peace and reconciliation commission

• Dr Moyo is the one of the two women to be trained and ordained Pastor in the Lutheran Church. She is the first women to attain a high church leadership role and the first black women to lecturer at United Theological Seminary.

• Throughout her career, Dr Moyo has harnessed the fact that she is a woman to approach and influence other women towards peace in a relatable manner. In her 31 years of pastoral experience, she knows that the majority of church members are women, and much of the inner drive for leadership and conflict resolution is led by women. The African continent’s history of liberation struggle and peacebuilding has shown us that women have a pivotal role to play in reconciliation, and Dr Moyo is well positioned to ensure that the commission fully explores the avenues of including women in national healing efforts.

• Dr Moyo is a member of the Council of Great Zimbabwe University and a member of the Lutheran Church.

Mrs. Nomaqhawe Gwere is a practicing development worker who adds value, detail and growth to the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) as a Commissioner. She has a proven 19 years record in designing, managing and spearheading development frameworks that seek to champion civil society and community participation in inclusive and sustainable growth, peace building, conflict prevention, management, resolution and transformation, good governance, public social accountability and constitutionalism. She has immense experience and knowledge in coordinating and directing programs that bring together different thematic groups and social orientations and civil society working within diverse communities. In the last eight years she developed and implemented sound financial, logistical and administration systems for two start up programs, with multiple partners, staff and benefitting huge communities.  Where, she was able to design and coordinate the program that has a three-tier implementation focus, namely Community Mobilization, Capacity building and the Violence Prevention Mechanisms.

In the community mobilisation cluster of activities, she designed and coordinated the implementation of various activities focused on behaviour and attitude change of citizens at community level. The second tier of capacity building prioritised the strengthening of identified stakeholder groups which included traditional leadership, political party representatives and civil society members to engage effectively in building and sustaining peace at community and national level. Mrs. Gwere facilitated the development and standardization of training manuals in peacebuilding, conflict management and resolution as technical backstopping for civil society in peace building. Whilst in the third tier of Violence Prevention Mechanisms she was able to design and coordinate activities that strengthen existing violence prevention mechanisms as well as support the creation of new tools for combating violence both at national and community levels. At national level she designed and coordinated activities that created dialogue and engagement platforms between Church and Civil Society leaders and the various government organs lobbying for a bottom up approach in development of a coherent and inclusive national healing infrastructure in Zimbabwe. Therefore, she brings the added advantage of knowing who, what where (3W), of development to the NPRC work especially with a focus on cultivating state, non-state and community participation, collecting, collating and sharing of experiences amongst stakeholders.

Major accomplishments in Peace Building 2011-2021

1. Conflict Prevention program design, coordination and management

• Designed and coordinated the implementation of the behavior change peacebuilding programs in 10 provinces of Zimbabwe mainly targeting rural communities which are generally a political hot spot.
• Designed and coordinated the mapping of conflict indicators in “hot spots” in Zimbabwe and facilitating the mapping of the violence and conflict indicators in rural Zimbabwe as a tool for early warning and early response
• Developed and coordinated the implementation of bi-annual national peace dialogue forums between the church, civil society, other non-state actors and state actors.

1. Development of Preventive Action and conflict management tools for practitioners

• Designed, trained practitioners and coordinated the national baseline to understand the local traditional mechanisms of conflict prevention and peacebuilding in Zimbabwe.
• Coordinated the Church and Civil Society Forum first national healing discussion paper, which presented the imperatives for a national healing framework and consolidated the expectations of the Church and CSOs on the building blocks of a national peace framework for Zimbabwe.
• Coordinated the national research and dissemination of three papers on gender dynamics in national healing, the role of the church in violence and the role of traditional leadership in transitional justice in Zimbabwe.
• Coordinated the research and initiation of the establishment of a conflict early warning and early response for non-state actors.
• Coordinated the development of the Church and Civil Society Peacebuilding, conflict management and Advocacy training guide.

Through her work, she has proven that she is team leader and results who believes in diversity and inclusion of different stakeholders in development, the 19 years working in the development field, where she interfaced with various stakeholders made her cultural and context sensitive, when working within multi-cultural set ups. She understands the political, social and economic dynamics as experienced by Zimbabweans in their different settings.

Donwell Dube is an NPRC commissioner who is a specialist in peacebuilding. He holds a PhD in peacebuilding from Durban University of Technology and a Masters in Peace and Governance from Africa University.Commissioner Dube is an accomplished academic and researcher who has published a number of peer reviewed articles on peace issues in Zimbabwe. He also has more than ten years teaching experience at university level where he taught peace studies. He taught peace studies at Lupane State University and Zimbabwe open University.Commissioner Dube spent a year at Public affairs and Parliamentary support Trust where he was involved in the capacitation of new parliamentarians and community conflict resolution.

He was a founding member of the Zimbabwe Peace and Security Education Trust (ZIPSET) an organization whose mandate was among others to develop a peace studies curriculum for local universities. He was also incorporated as a member of the NPRC Knowledge Management Committee and involved in the baseline survey which was meant to be the basis of most the commission’s intervention programs. As a member of the RKM committee he was involved in a nationwide conflict mapping and analysis program aimed at coming up with effective interventions in conflict situations. The work also involves laying down the foundations for the development of a conflict early warning and response system (CEWER) for the country. His interests include research in peace infrastructure, conflict,  security and community development.

Obert Chaurura Gutu studied for his Bachelor of Law and  Bachelor of Laws degrees at the University of Zimbabwe between the period 1982 to 1986.  In 2011 he submitted a Masters of Philosophy degree thesis specialising on the Constitutional amendments in Zimbabwe between the period 1980 to the year 2000.   He is the senior and founding partner at Gutu and Chikowero Law Firm; a law firm that he founded in October 1990.  Before that, he was a Public Prosecutor whose main responsibilities included perusing crime dockets from the Police, liaising with Police Investigating Officers, interviewing State witnesses and prosecuting in Court.  He prosecuted at both the Harare Magistrates’ Court and Mbare Magistrates’ Court between the period 1985 to 1987.  In July 1987, he joined one of the largest black-owned Law Firms, Chirunda, Chihambakwe and Partners as a Professional Assistant.  He was mainly responsible for researching, preparing letters and pleadings and representing clients in Labour Courts, Magistrates Courts and all the superior Courts.

After founding his own legal practice in October 1990, he was able to manage the law practice successfully and this largely contributed to the decision making that led to the success of the practice.  From 2004 up to 2020, he has been engaged by the World Bank’s Doing Business Project whose main responsibility has been to prepare and submit Annual Reports to the Monitoring and Analysis Unit Investment Climate Department.  Between the period 2016 to 2020,  has also carried out research on human rights, debt and social justice issues.  On several occasions, he has been invited by local and international organisations to present papers at workshops, conferences and seminars.  He has presented papers at workshops and seminars organised by Transparency International Zimbabwe Chapter, AFRODAD and the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD).  He has also been engaged by Professor Cephas Lumina, a United Nations Independent Expert on Human Rights to present papers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as well as in Geneva, Switzerland as one of the key experts for the United Nations Commission for Human Rights (UNCHR).

From 2006 to 2008, he was the Chairperson of the Food Standards Advisory Board (FSAB) whose core duties involved the making of regulations that control all food standards in Zimbabwe.  He also had the responsibility to make sure the regulations pertaining to food standards complied with the laws of Zimbabwe as well as international best practice as set out by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).  The Food Standards Advisory Board is a statutory body appointed by the Minister of Health and Child Welfare.

From 2008 to 2010, he was the chairperson of the Parliamentary Legal Committee (PLC) and a member of the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s Standing Rules and Orders Committee( SROC).

From 2010 to 2013, he was the Deputy Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs whose core responsibility was to assist the Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs in formulating and implementing policies for the justice delivery system for Zimbabwe.

He chaired the Ministry’s Anti-Corruption Committee and worked very closely with the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC).  He was also the chairperson of the Family Court of Zimbabwe Steering Committee.  He networked at a very high level with people in both the private and public sectors and well as the diplomatic community.  He led high level government delegations  to international conferences on human rights and intellectual property in Geneva, Switzerland, Melbourne, Australia and Mexico City in Mexico.

Dr. Golden Chekenyere graduated from the University of Sierra Leone (Fourah Bay College) with a BA, then completed a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from West Midlands College of Further Education (United Kingdom).  Dr. Chekenyere holds an Msc in Education, and a Ph.D. also in Education from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in the USA.

In an illustrious career, Dr. Chekenyere has a varied Human Resources Management experience; International Development Experience, Finance and Financial Services experience spanning a period of twenty-six (26) years, including Consultancy Services.

Dr. Chekenyere has worked at USAID Zimbabwe (1984-1989) in the Steel Works and Irrigation Industry at Industrial Steel and Pipe and Stewarts and Lloyds (1989-1989) the Finance and Financial Services Industry and Banking at ZimBank (1989-1997); established Southern Region Management Consultancy Services (1997-1999); worked in one of Zimbabwe’s largest Milling Companies, National Foods Limited as its Group Human Resources Executive Director (1999-2009).

At USAID, Dr. Chekenyere worked on one of the most elaborate and far reaching Human Capital and Education Programs in Zimbabwe.  At Industrial Steel and Pipe, Dr. Chekenyere was exposed to Steel Manufacturing and Irrigation Systems Development (1989-1997).  As Head   of Human Resources at Zimbank, Dr. Chekenyere was not only exposed to state of the Art Human Resources Management Tools, but also to Financial Reporting Basics such as; Balance Sheets, Income and Expenditure Statements and Statements of Cash flows etc.

In 1997, Dr. Chekenyere formed Southern Region Management Consultancy, (1997-1999) which consulted mostly in Financial Institutions and Banking.  For two years (1997-1999) Dr. Chekenyere was appointed External Chairman of the Hippo Valley Estates and Triangle Sugar Milling Industry Collective Bargaining Negotiations.

As Executive Director and Group Human Resources Director at National Foods Limited (1999-2009) Dr. Chekenyere, besides Human Resources Policy Formulation and Implementation, was involved in aspects of Change Management and Group Continuous Improvement and Organizational Restructuring in response to the harsh Macro-Economic Environment negatively affecting Business at that time.

Finally, for four years (2003-2007) Dr. Chekenyere was a Non –Executive Board Director at Agribank, Chairing the Human Resources Management Sub-Committee.  While sitting on the various Boards as indicated above, Dr. Chekenyere was exposed to Finance and Financial Management basics and therefore has wide experience in matters of Finance and Human Resources.

Throughout my long career, my Peace Building work centred mostly on negotiations, conciliation and mediation over contestations on Financial Resources, mostly salaries and wages and also the promotion of harmonious Industrial Relations in the organisations I worked in.

Bread and butter conflicts and the contentions issue of Retrenchments in the organisations I worked in were quite challenging, strikes and threats of strikes were the norm, and so one had to have the acumen and experience of bringing Peace in the organisations which I mentioned above. Commissioner Dr. Chekeneyere also sat on several National Employment Councils such as the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Employment Council, where the Zimbabwe Banks and Allied Workers Union were quite militant. Also, Commissioner Chekenyere sat on the Zimbabwe Milling Industry Employment Council with the Zimbabwe Milling Industry Workers Union where strikes, threats of violence and lockdowns were also the norm. Throughout my career I have dealt with and resolved challenges relating to bread and butter issues (salaries and wages) and which soured Industrial Relations in the organisations I worked in and these conflicts had to be resolved whenever they erupted as indicated above.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

1. Certified Counselling Psychologist with the Allied Health Professions Council
2. Dialogue and mediation
3. Consulting, Counseling and Clinical assessment
2. Design, use and interpretation of psychological assessment instruments
3. Training, teaching and research
4. Developing and managing projects

EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

1. MA COUNSELLING – University of the District of Columbia, USA
2. BA PSYCHOLOGY – Carleton University, Canada
3. B.A. HONORS PSYCHOLOGY – Carleton University, Canada
3. DIPLOMA IN BUSINESS STUDIES – University of Zimbabwe
4. DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION – University of Zimbabwe
5. CERTIFICATE IN DIALOGOUE AND MEDIATION (Folke Bernadotte Academy Sweden)

WORK EXPERIENCE

2016-2018 Acting Chairperson (National Peace and Reconciliation Commission)
2016-2020 Deputy Chairperson (National Peace and Reconciliation Commission)
2000-2006 Diplomat (Namibia)
2003- Farming
1995-2011 Counselling and Psychology Lecturer (Zimbabwe Open University)
1995-2004 Psychology Lecturer (University of Zimbabwe)
1994 – 2008 Consultant Psychologist/Trainer (WHO; UNDP; FAO, UNESCO; UNICEF; GTZ; IFRCS; CESVI, PROMAN SA)
1985-1993 Diplomat (Canada and USA)
1970-1985 Science & Maths Teacher (Zimbabwe)

VOLUNTARY EXPERIENCE
Child Survival and Development foundation, AIDS Counselling Trust, Youth for Understanding, Witman walker Clinic, Zimbabwe Psychological Association, Youth Advisor Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic church Marondera
i. Zimbabwe Indigenous women Farmers Association Trust

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION
* Zimbabwe psychological Association
* Zimbabwe Allied Health professions Council

Chairperson

He began his career as a primary school teacher in Zvishavane and Gwanda (1963 – 1970) and served as a Headmaster from 1971 and 1973.

He left teaching in 1973 to join the courts as a court interpreter in 1981. This is where his interest in law began and he has over the years shaped a distinguished legal career.

He became a Magistrate in Bulawayo, Hwange and Chiredzi in 1981; provincial magistrate in 1984 for Mashonaland West. From 1985 he moved to Matabeleland (Mat North, South and Bulawayo) as a Provincial Administrator.

In 1992 he assumed the role of Provincial Magistrate for Bulawayo and Matabeleland North and was promoted in 1993 as a Regional Magistrate (Harare). In 1998 he transferred to the High Court of Mutare (Zimbabwe) as a Senior Regional Magistrate – before assuming the role of President of Harare’s administrative court in 2001 and as a President of Bulawayo’s Administrative Court in 2003. Retired Justice Selo Masole Nare was then appointed as the President of the Labour Court in Bulawayo in 2006 where he retired in 2013.

He currently serves as the Chairperson of the 2014 Lupane State University Staff Disciplinary Committee and an elder in the Church of Christ Congregation of Bulawayo.

He is multi-lingual – speaking six local languages fluently. This includes Sotho, Ndebele, Shona, Venda, Nyanja and English. He has working knowledge of Kalanga and Shangani and understand Nambia. He is a husband and father.