The ruling ZANU PF party said that it is not interested in MDC’s plans to hold commemorations for people shot and killed by security forces on August 1, 2018, in Harare’s Central Business District.
Speaking to the Daily News, ZANU PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said the government will go ahead with implementing the Kgalema Motlanthe Commission’s recommendations, of which commemorations were not recommended. He said:
We are implementing the Motlanthe commission recommendations and the issue of commemorations is not part of the recommendations.
So why should we bother ourselves with something which is not part of the recommendations? I think the commission did a good job and it’s a process.
August 1, 2019, marks a year since soldiers from an elite unit swooped on Harare and opened fire on post-election protestors, killing six in the process and injuring dozens.
The slain protestors are thought to have been MDC supporters who were pushing for the expeditious release of Presidential election results following a general election held on July 30, 2018.