PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday appointed a
seven-member panel to probe the fatal shootings which occurred in Harare on
August 1 after soldiers opened fire on suspected MDC Alliance activists,
killing seven people, injuring over a dozen others.
But opposition and civic leaders immediately cried foul
over the composition and independence of the probe team, saying some of them
were politically compromised and unlikely to produce an impartial report.
The team, which will be led by former South African
President Kgalema Motlanthe, has been mandated to investigate the cause of the
protests, identify the instigators, police conduct and establish how the military
ended up shooting indiscriminately in the city centre during announcement of
last month’s presidential election results.
Other members of the commission of inquiry include lawyer
and National Constitutional Assembly losing presidential candidate Lovemore
Madhuku, Zanu PF loyalist and academic Charity Manyeruke, Law Society of
Zimbabwe (LSZ)’s ex-president Vimbai Nyemba, Rodney Dixon of the United
Kingdom, former Tanzanian chief of defence forces General Davis Mwamunyange and
former Commonwealth secretary-general Chief Emeka Anyaoku of Nigeria.
Mnangagwa, who leaves for China tomorrow, said he would
swear-in the team upon his return so that they could start work and report to
him within the next three months.
“The violence happened in the full glare of international
media, the inquiry should also happen transparently in the glare of the
international community,” he said.
“The terms of reference for the commission are as follows:
To inquire into the circumstances leading to 1st of August, 2018 post-election
violence, to identify the actors and their leaders, their motives and
strategies employed in the protests,” Mnangagwa said.
“To inquire into the intervention by the Zimbabwe Republic
Police in the maintenance of law and order, to investigate the circumstances
which necessitated the involvement of the military in assisting in the
maintenance of law and order,” he said.
Police and Zanu PF have already blamed MDC Alliance
leaders, particularly Tendai Biti and youth leader Happymore Chidziva among
other leaders, as the brains behind the violent protests.
Biti was arrested and charged for inciting the violence,
while police are still on the hunt for Chidziva.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Welshman Ncube said while they
welcomed the announcement of the commission, they had reservations over its
composition and terms of reference which were not clear.
He said it was worrying that whereas there was a direct
term of reference dealing with the police action, there was no direct term of
reference addressing the question of who ordered the army into the streets.
“What orders were given to the army, before you can come to
the question of whether or not the force which was used was justified in the
circumstances?” Ncube asked. “Surely, you ought to inquire as to what were the
circumstances which necessitated the calling in on the army. Who gave the
orders and did the orders include shooting the victims in the back?”
Ncube said the real reason the commission was being set up
should be to investigate how the army ended on the streets, shooting unarmed
civilians in the back.
“The only reason of the commission of inquiry is that the
army shot unarmed civilians in the back while they were running away. Otherwise
need not for that they would be no commission of inquiry,” he said.
Ncube went on to single out Madhuku and Manyeruke, saying
the two could not pass for independent commissioners given their political
stance in the just-ended general elections.
He, however, hailed the international component of the
commission.
“The international members seem to be sufficient,
experienced and sufficiently independent. To me, perhaps Nyemba, despite all the
appointments to State institutions, also has a sufficiently broad history of
independence as LSZ president,” Ncube said.
He said Manyeruke was a Zanu PF apologist and campaigned
for the ruling party in the just-ended elections.
“In my respectful view, she (Manyeruke) is not sufficiently
distanced from our partisan politics to be able to act independently and
impartially and fairly in this matter,” Ncube said.
“Equally, Madhuku might be a lawyer, but such a player so
closely involved with our politics as a presidential candidate, as a legal
practitioner for one of the presidential candidates, Thokozani Khupe. I am
aware that he is also a lawyer representing one other party in the on-going
electoral petition. In my view, his eyes are so clouded. It will be well nearly
impossible for him to distance himself from the dust of conflict with has
imbued our politics.”
Political scientist, Ibbo Mandaza raised the same concerns,
saying the local component of the commission was compromised. He noted that
this was akin to Mnangagwa and his deputy (Constantino Chiwenga) investigating
themselves.
“We were always suspicious that the commission of inquiry
might end up as an inside job. In which case, it would be ridiculous to have
Mnangagwa and Chiwenga investigating themselves,” he said.
Mandaza said there was no need for a commission in the
first place because soldiers were captured live on camera shooting and killing
unarmed civilians.
“We saw it on TV. We saw soldiers no more than 20, one can
easily identify those persons and not to mention who gave the orders,” Mandaza
said.
“Secondly, it’s clear that when the soldiers arrived, the
crowd had become tired. Many had left and when the soldiers arrived, most ran
away and they were pursued and in my view killed in cold blood.” Newsday
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