Dixon interviews former "Green Bombers" and other ZANU-PF thugs who had carried out political violence during the months between the March and June elections in 2008.
Dixon suggests that the thugs are now on the run and that in many places the MDC have reclaimed control over their areas and now the Green Bombers, or members of ZANU(PFs) youth militias are worried for their own safety.
Dixon writes:
"Samson Bopoto also spent months hiding in the countryside. Every night, he and other MDC activists expected to be killed.
"Now the tables have turned. It's now ZANU-PF are panicking," said Bopoto, 34, an MDC youth organizer who lives in a Harare township. He and his comrades have taken back the local bar. They sit for hours singing MDC songs, and the former ZANU-PF thugs are nowhere to be seen.
Sometimes the ex-thugs come to his house secretly at night, trying to buy forgiveness or at least protection.
Bopoto says it isn't easy to stop the MDC members from taking revenge. Many are waiting until Cabinet posts are settled and the MDC takes its share of power.
"Still, our wounds are open. . . . Just imagine seeing somebody who's the guy who beat up your mom. They say, 'Sorry guys, I was forced to do that.' But we still have a lot of pain."
The power-sharing deal leaves the way open for prosecutions. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says Mugabe should not be held responsible for past crimes, but the question of immunity or prosecution for others hangs unanswered, poisoning the talks."
There are other interesting interpretations in the article, well worth reading in full.
Raises the important issue of restorative justice moving forward. To what extent is there going to be any serious attempt, this time after years of impunity, to force people to accept their personal responsibility for the acts of violence perpetrated on behalf of their political party?
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