WITNESSES yesterday relived the horrors of the
post-election violence which ripped through Harare on August 1 and saw members
of the army killing seven civilians in a crackdown on opposition supporters
protesting over the delay in announcing presidential results.
Six witnesses, mainly Zanu PF supporters and officials,
took to the stand as the former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe-led
Commission of Inquiry into the violence opened public hearings late yesterday
afternoon.
Lawson Nyanhanda narrated the ordeal he faced as he tried
to drive through the city to fetch his girlfriend who was stranded at the
Rainbow Towers.
He was twice stopped by soldiers who asked him to lie on
the ground and said he was only saved from the unknown ‘by the intervention of
God.’
“One soldier jumped into my car and I was forced out. They
asked me to lie on the ground. Another group of people who were running saved
me because the soldiers turned their attention to them and left me alone,” he
said.
Nyanhanda said he was forced to dump his car and proceeded
to look for his girlfriend on foot. At that time, he saw soldiers chasing after
members of the public, firing shots.
“For the first time in my adult life, I wet my pants. I had
never heard a gunshot before and when the guns went off as I tried to take
cover, I messed myself. It might sound funny now, but at that time it was real
horror,” he told the Commission.
He said, generally, riot police who were monitoring the
demonstrators were relaxed and friendly during the commotion, while soldiers
appeared to be in total control of the situation and running operations on
their own.
A Zanu PF official, Peter Zimowa, who twice lost elections
in Kuwadzana to Nelson Chamisa, accused the opposition MDC Alliance of fanning
the violence.
He told the commission that party youths singing songs of
praise to Chamisa, ran amok around Fourth Street, burnt a bus belonging to
Nyasha Zenda and cars that were parked at the Zanu PF Harare provincial
offices.
Zimowa said armed police officers who guard the offices had
to run for cover as the youths threatened to set the premises on fire.
“I would not want to get deeper into it because these were
trained people, so I don’t know if they were running away or it was part of
their training,” he said.
Zenda, who is a losing Zanu PF council candidate for ward
6, said the MDC Alliance youth wanted to burn him alive as he made an effort to
rescue his $100 000 bus parked at the Zanu PF offices.
Zenda said he escaped from further harm by hiding in the
boot of a vehicle.
Patricia Ruzawo, who served as an observer during the
election, said she suspected the hand of other political parties in the chaos.
“There were a lot of political parties, some who were
peaceful, but I would like to believe that some political parties fanned the
violence,” she said.
An attempt to give State broadcaster, the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation, a monopoly to cover the public hearings by commission
secretary, Virginia Mabiza was resisted by the media who challenged Motlanthe
to ensure that the hearing was not closed.
Motlanthe eventually allowed the media to cover the
hearings. Newsday
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