"A Commission of Inquiry into the August 1 shootings that occurred after the July 30 harmonised elections will resume today with MDC president Nelson Chamisa expected to testify,” reported Bulawayo 24.
Chamisa and the rest of the opposition were warned repeatedly not to take part in the recent elections until democratic reforms are implemented to make sure the elections are free, fair and credible. He would not listen, claiming "MDC had stringent measures to stop Zanu PF rigging the elections!" The stringent measures did not work against ZEC for Justice Chigumba and her fellow commissioners blatantly disregarded the law to secure a landslide victory for Zanu PF.
They knew the plaintiff's, Chamisa, request to have the ballot boxes opened was denied. Although the Judges could and should have demanded to have the ballot boxes opened, particularly since they were the ones insisting on primary source evidence. They did not make any such demand because they knew the same chaos, irregularity, illegalities, etc. found in the evidence before the court would also be found in the sealed ballot boxes.
It is fair to say the Con-Court started from the outcome, they had to confirm Mnangagwa as the winner, and so they task was to find a plausible excuse to justify their judgement. They would reject the damning evidence presented to the court by both the plaintiff and the key defendant, ZEC, on the grounds that it was not collaborated by primary source evidence - a convenient legal bolt hole!
It should be remembered that it was the same Judiciary that had ruled the the 15 November 2017 military coup was "legal, constitutional and justified"! Of course, it was naive to expect justice from a judiciary that is corrupt to the core!
It would be a real surprise if the Motlanthe Commission was not biased, corrupt and incompetent. No one in their right mind expects the Commission to accomplish much other than gloss over the shooting and the serious matter of the rigged elections, which triggered the protest. But that is all beside the point.
BY JEFF KURAI CHAKANYUKA
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