Commissions Watch Motlanthe Commission of Inquiry Report 31 Jan 2019 The Commission made the following recommendations: • Compensation: All victims of violence, and dependants of the deceased, should be compensated. The Government should set up a committee to assess the amount of compensation and a fund to assist those affected. • Political parties: Parties should be registered to ensure their accountability. The Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Candidates [the Fourth Schedule to the Electoral Act] should be enforced, with sanctions for offenders. • Hate speech, etc: The laws relating to hate speech, abuse of cyberspace and incitement to violence should be reviewed. • Electoral reform: The Electoral Act should be amended to shorten the time for presidential election results to be announced. • Law enforcement: • The provisions of POSA for deploying the military should be aligned with the Constitution. • The Police should be given the skills and capacity to deal with rioters. They should also be trained to be professional and nonpartisan. • Deployment of the military to assist the Police should be a measure of last resort in extraordinary situations. • The Army should conduct an audit of its standing orders and procedures for riot control and law enforcement. The results of the audit, and the lessons learnt and remedial measures taken, should be published in a public report. • The military in conjunction with the Police should adopt contingency plans for dealing with emergency situations. • The use of live ammunition as warning shots should be discouraged and should be used only in limited circumstances of danger to public safety. [Veritas underlining]. • National healing and reconciliation: A multi-party reconciliation initiative, including youths and with national and international mediation, should be established to address the root causes of the post-election violence. The Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission and the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission should increase their efforts to implement their mandates. • Accountability: All those responsible for alleged crimes on the 1st August 2018 should be prosecuted. Members of the Army and Police who were in breach of their professional duties and discipline should be identified as soon as possible for internal investigations and appropriate sanction.