Former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe has promised saying the Zimbabwe National Army and the police are to appear before his commission of inquiry. But Motlanthe has hidden from the Zimbabwean public the following facts:
– That his inquiry has already concluded that it was justified for the army to be deployed and kill innocent people on the 1st August 2018.
– That he is has been hired by an interested party, a politician, Emmerson Mnangagwa.
– That he is receiving secret lumpsum payments from Mnangagwa which he has not publicly disclosed.
– Yesterday, one of his colleagues on the panel, the highly controversial British lawyer, Rodney Dixon, lied that he is not being paid by Mnangagwa.
– That his commission is stuffed with compromised locals who have a direct interest against the MDC party.
– That his inquiry is illegal according to the Zimbabwean constitution.
Meanwhile, below is the state media full text:
The Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Zimbabwe National Army are expected to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into the political violence that rocked the country on August 1 next month following the adjournment of hearings yesterday.
This was said by the Commission’s chairperson former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe while addressing a media conference following their adjournment of proceedings to next week.
He also expressed the Commission’s gratitude to people and organisations that have provided their testimonies so far.
“We wish to announce that the Commission will today (yesterday), the 19th of October 2018, adjourn its hearings in Harare, thereafter we will conduct hearings on the 26th and 27th of October, 2018 in Bulawayo and Gweru, respectively.
“The Commission plans to visit Mutare and to continue with the public hearings in Harare from the 10th of November, 2018. We will be hearing especially from the army and the police then,” said Mr Motlanthe.
He said they had so far received 85 written testimonies, heard 37 oral testimonies from witnesses of diverse backgrounds, written testimonies from 11 organisations and had also carried out site visits.
Mr Motlanthe reiterated that they would be impartial in carrying out their mandate.
“We were sworn in on the day 19th of September, 2018 and we subscribed to an oath that each and every one of us will faithfully, fully, impartially and to the best of our ability discharge the trust and perform the duties to the best of our abilities. We therefore want to assure the citizens of Zimbabwe that we will carry out this inquiry in terms of the law,” he said.
The former South African President commended President Mnangagwa for appointing a Commission made up of eminent persons in the interest of transparency and impartiality.
Before the adjournment, the Commission had also heard testimonies from various people on the events that occurred on the fateful day.
Academic and political analyst Mr Tafadzwa Mugwadi said the MDC-Alliance and its allies in the civil society should take responsibility for instigating the violent demonstration that led to the death of the six people.
“The events that happened had been rehearsed and planned by the MDC-Alliance and were not spontaneous,” he said.
“The events were not a peaceful demonstration but an attempt to power seizure.”
He said there were numerous examples were MDC Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa had made utterances that he would make the country ungovernable if he were not to win the poll.