Zimbabwe: Relational Peacebuilding Amidst Protracted Social Conflict. Strategies and Significance of Endogenous Approaches

Independent Zimbabwe has experienced continual episodes of mostly violent intra-state conflict that have left the country polarised and divided along mostly ethnic, racial, and class lines. In the aftermath of each conflictual episode, peacemaking attempts have been implemented to se cede hostilities, however, these attempts have only built peace at the superstructure while neglect ing the grassroots, which has been the microcosm of conflict wherein most of the actors are, be they perpetrators, victims and survivors. State-led attempts at reconciliation have failed to address the after-effects of conflict, and it is the argument of this paper that endogenous approaches to relational peacebuilding cannot continue to be ignored as they can potentially address some of the fault lines. Respondents to the study were purposively selected from three provinces in the coun try. Findings indicate the relevance and efficacy of these approaches in building peace at the family and community levels. Keywords: Relational peace, conflict, endoge nous, tradition, Zimbabwe.