Motlanthe Commission to set up website and post evidence submitted to it

The Commission of Inquiry into the 1 August violence will set up a website where it will post all the material submitted to it for the public to access for themselves, Commission chair Kgalema Motlanthe said.

The former South African President said he was happy with the way the hearings had been conducted because even those who had given evidence under protest had ended opening up.

He said almost every commissioner had been accused of one thing or another but in the end what this showed was the need for dialogue among Zimbabweans.

Reports today said the Commission had presented the executive summary of its report to President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

It has until 19 December to wind up its business but the period can be extended if there is need for that.

The seven-member commission comprising three Zimbabweans and four non-Zimbabwean commissioners was asked to look into the violence of 1 August in which six people were killed after demonstrations for the release of the 30 July elections turned violent.

The military, which was blamed for the killings, said it had not killed any person but merely came into to restore law and order after the police had been overwhelmed.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change also said it had not organised the demonstrators.

With neither side willing to take the blame, it will be interested to see what the commission’s findings are and what it recommends as the way forward.

But the idea of publishing its report and providing the documents upon which its decisions were reached will be another example of how transparent Zimbabwe has become.

Some of the reports of previous commission looking into violence in Zimbabwe have never been released.

But the new administration seems to be promoting greater transparency. The commission hearings were broadcasting live though there hitches here and there.

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