Staff Reporter|The Zimbabwean authorities must bolster the mandate of the Commission of Inquiry into the country’s post-election killings if victims’ families have any hope of obtaining truth, justice and reparations, Amnesty International said after the swearing in of the commissioners on Wednesday.

The organization is also concerned about the independence and impartiality of the Commission, which includes a presidential candidate in the 30 July elections, who has criticized opposition parties challenging the results of the vote, and an academic, who has publicly expressed her support for the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Commissioners with strong ties or support of ZANU-PF may compromise the independence and impartiality of the investigation and expose it to external interference.

“Zimbabweans deserve to know what happened in the bloody aftermath of the elections, including who shot six people dead, who gave the command to shoot and who was responsible for the deployment of soldiers. But as the Commission of Inquiry’s mandate stands right now, they may never know,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa.

“The authorities must show that this Commission is not a fig leaf intended to cover the human rights violations and abuses committed in the aftermath of the election. The first step is to broaden the Commission’s mandate to investigate violations and abuses committed by all parties involved.”