Zim marks 1 year after army shootings amid calls to bring killers to book

As Zimbabweans marks and remembers the 1st anniversary of the bloody military massacres with impunity of innocent civilians tthis week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been urged to bring the soldiers who shot and killed civilians to book.

Renowned political commentator Doctor Pedzisai Ruhanya says as the nation commemorates the August 2018 killings tomorrow, it is high time, Mnangagwa makes sure that the soldiers who murdered unarmed civilians are brought to book.

He says history is awash with facade democracies such as Zimbabwe under Mnangagwa that publicly and shamelessly purport to be reforming when they are into authoritarian consolidation. Killing protesters, threatening violence against innocent citizens and impunity are not menu of democracy.

“As Zimbabweans marks and remembers the 1st anniversary of the bloody military massacres with impunity of innocent civilians tomorrow 1 August 2019, after alleged electoral theft, by President Mnangagwa

“Kindly ask Mnangagwa to bring to justice the murderers, otherwise the so-called new dispensation remains phoney,” says.

On 1 August 2018, President Mnangagwa deployed soldiers to kill civilians, who were protesting against the delay by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the presidential election results. The protesters were suspecting that the delay was a move by Mnangagwa to rig the election, who they believed was beaten all systems up by Movement for Democratic Change-Alliance president Nelson Chamisa.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa who once professed he did not know who deployed the army to kill civilians, before admitting he did; set up a commission of inquiry, whose recommendations he is guilty of ignoring.

Be that as it may, many organisations who observed the elections, also gave their findings and recommendations, but all fell on deaf ears, Mnangagwa chose to ignore, despite preaching that his so-called new dispensation is a respecter of human rights and rule of law.

Some of the organisations who issued their reports include the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) who fielded election observers, before, during, and after the polls. The two organisations produced a report with recommendations.

They highlighted that Zimbabwe should implement the political, economic, and media reforms, if the country is to move forward and prosper. Commenting on the IRI, NDI report, former American Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bruce Wharton says the recommendations in the report is exactly what the doctor prescribed for the cure of the country’s ailing political and economic space.

“The recommendations contained in this report are sensible, practicable, and pretty much what Zimbabweans and the international community have been urging Zimbabwe to undertake since about 2000.

“Herein lie the answers to Zimbabwe’s challenges,” he says through his twitter handle.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa is currently under pressure to solve the country’s unyielding economy, amid the looming civil unrest, as citizens patience is currently running out, as the economic downturn takes toll on their unimproving incomes owing to the hyperinflationary environment.

However, the unrepentant Mnangagwa has in several times threatened to unleash the military on the street again to kill, any protesters, an act that would further create more problems for his administration- analysts believe.