Mnangagwa to release Motlanthe report next week

President Mnangagwa says he has received the report on the August 1 post-election violence that led to the death of six people and destruction of property worth millions of dollars in Harare and will release it to the public next week. The report was compiled over a period of three months by a seven-member commission led by former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Although President Mnangagwa is not obliged at law to make the report public, he personally made an undertaking to do so long back before the appointment of the commission.

Officially opening the 17th Zanu-PF Annual National People's Conference here yesterday, President Mnangagwa said he would release the report to the public next week and urged people to maintain the prevailing peace in the country.

"Ndinotenda mose makavhota maprovince ose ari gumi kuti takaita sarudzo murunyararo takabatana kudzamara nhasi tine runyararo takabatana," said President Mnangagwa.

"As a party, we called for unity, peace and harmony during the campaign period. I commend all structures and wings of the party for heeding to this call. I appeal to us all to maintain this non-violence going forward. During the process of announcing election results, we experienced violence in Harare. We condemn violence and I then appointed a Commission of Inquiry," he said.

"I have since received the report of the Commission of Inquiry into post-election violence of August 1, 2018 and I will be making it public next week.

"Commission yatakaisa kuti iongorore mhirizhonga yakaitika muHarare yakanyora report. Tiri kuiongorora asi tawirirana kuti youya toiisa kunyika."

The President thanked the electorate for voting for Zanu-PF resoundingly in the July 30 harmonised elections.

He said the victory attested to the deep confidence the people of Zimbabwe had in Zanu-PF and its policies.

President Mnangagwa said after being given a full five-year mandate by the people, there was no basis for a Government of National Unity (GNU) with losing opposition parties.

"We were given a fresh mandate to govern Zimbabwe for the next five years. Full stop," he said.

"No GNU. In spite of our convincing win, the losing presidential candidates, one of the other 22, took us to court refusing to accept the majority vote of the people. This culminated in the court ruling which confirmed me the winner as was decided by the people through the ballot."

President Mnangagwa said people should not be bothered by political sideshows by some election losers.

"Musatambura kana kushaya hope muchinzwa tumhere-mhere apo neapo. Vatai. I urge you not to be deterred by those who continue to make irritating noises. As Zanu-PF, we do not have an agenda for GNUs, instead we are continuing our sector driven policies, focusing on rebuilding the economy, increasing productivity, wealth and job creation, fighting corruption and improving the quality of life of our people," he said.

"We must implement sustainable development programmes and fulfil the promises we made to the electorate in our manifesto. We must pledge ourselves to be faithful and loyal to the ideals, values and principles of the party.

"We must be totally committed to the party and its leadership. Tese ngatitsidze semember yemusangano weZanu-PF kuchengetedza nekuparidza shoko reZanu-PF, zvatakamirira kuZanu-PF, tirisimudzire kana usiku. Tipe makumbo ese kumusangano kwete gumbo mumba, gumbo panze."