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Auxilia Katongomara/Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporters
BULAWAYO residents have hailed President Emmerson Mnangagwa for setting up the Commission of Inquiry into post election violence that claimed six lives.
Giving evidence at the inquiry in the city yesterday residents said no one should ever die in politically motivated uprisings.
A Bulawayo resident Mr Sengezo Tshabangu said President Emmerson Mnangagwa set up a credible commission which should be supported in its action.
“I’ve been nurtured by the opposition politics, I differ with Zanu-PF on many occasions, I’ve differed with former President Robert Mugabe and I’ve differed with President ED but on this one I give him thumbs up. He is clean he wants this thing to be done in a public forum, he wants this thing to be investigated, we must support this cause, we must support this initiative,” said Mr Tshabangu.
Zanu-PF Youth League National Deputy Secretary for Administration Cde Mabutho Moyo blamed the MDC Alliance leaders for the post election violence.
He said MDC-T and its vanguard members portrayed their violent nature during the internal party fights when they attacked splinter president Dr Thokozani Khupe at the burial of MDC-T founding president the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.
He said MDC Alliance president Mr Nelson Chamisa and Alliance principal Mr Tendai Biti incited violence during election campaigns.
MDC Alliance Bulawayo provincial spokesperson Mr Felix Mafa Sibanda said the chief culprit in the events of August 1 was the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission which delayed announcing results from Harare thereby creating anxiety among the populace.
He said there was a need to establish who deployed the army and the police should explain why they failed to maintain peace.
Former South African President Mr Kgalema Motlanthe who chairs the Commission of Inquiry said the country should never again lose a life due to political violence and the Commission investigating the August 1 skirmishes wants to come up with recommendations to help Zimbabwe solve its conflicts amicably.
Mr Motlanthe said any death was one too many and no country should experience that.
He was speaking during the Commission’s hearings which were attended by scores of Bulawayo residents with some of them testifying on the August 1 protests that led to the death of six people.
“Again we hope to make suggestions that would help the country never ever again slide into the same occurrence of loss of human life. Even one person if his life is terminated prematurely it is one too many,” he said.
“You may also have suggestions as to how in the future going forward such occurrences should be avoided because the recommendations should spell out how peaceful demonstrations which are allowed by the Constitution of Zimbabwe should be conducted and how in upholding the laws and enforcement, the police and the military should conduct themselves.”
Mr Motlanthe said his team wanted to gather information from Zimbabweans across the board hence the decision to come to Bulawayo and other areas.
“So in its wisdom, the commission felt that even though the events happened in Harare, it makes sense for the Commission to reach out to Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare because there is a possibility that some residents of Bulawayo may have been in Harare on that occasion or they may have lost relatives or their relatives were injured and so on,” said Mr Motlanthe.
He urged the residents to trust the Commission which he said has among its members, international experts.
Mr Motlanthe said those who failed to verbally submit their accounts can write to the commission and it will use their recommendations.
Violent skirmishes erupted during the hearings as supporters of rival political parties exchanged blows but police were quick to contain the situation.
Members of Mthwakazi Republic Party also attempted to disrupt the meeting by interjecting as witnesses made their submissions saying the death of six people should not take precedence over the 1980s killings.
— @AuxiliaK @nqotshili
Online Reporter