High Court judge Justice David Mungota yesterday ruled against an application by Allison Charles and Counselling Services Unit challenging the legality of the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry.
In his judgement, Mangota defended the legality Kgalema Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry. He also ruled that then Minister of Defence, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga deployed soldiers on August 1.
At least 6 people died after soldiers used live bullets to quell a protest which had turned violent. Below is part of Justice Mangota’s ruling:
The circumstances of the events of 1 August 2018 unfold themselves in a manner which is as clear as night follows day. They run in the following order:
a) a commotion started in the central business district of Harare;
b) the officer who commands the district assessed the magnitude of the commotion as measured against the strength of the personnel which was then at his disposal;
c) he approached the Police Commissioner-General whom he appraised of what was obtaining;
d) the Police Commissioner-General approached the Minister under whose supervision he operates;
e) the Minister, in turn, approached his counter-part in the Ministry of Defence; f) he in turn, dispatched members of the defence forces who worked under the command of the regulating authority of the district of Harare.
The above stated matters expose the incorrectness of the applicants’ syllogism. They proceed on the premise that, because the constitution confers power on the President to deploy, he deployed Members of the defence forces on 1 August, 2018. The correct position of the matter is that he did not.
Because the President have the did not deploy, he is not conflicted as the applicants would court believe. He also did not violate s 214 of the Constitution. He, in other words, did not owe a duty to report to Parliament matters which did not arise out of the power which the Constitution confers upon him. His moral duty which arises out of what occurred on 1 August, 2018 was / is to set up the commission of inquiry which he established on 14 September, 2018. He remained alive to the fact that Zimbabwe and the world deserve a clear statement of the causes of the violence and the need on the part of the country to define as well as prevent such unfortunate occurrences in all future elections. The commission which he set up will, the fullness of time, unearth those.
Chiwenga must killed