‘August 1 violence was coup attempt’

MDC Alliance plotted a coup and attempted to use the violent demonstrations, which rocked Harare post July 30 elections, to unseat President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, the Commission of Inquiry into the August 1 shootings heard yesterday.

The public hearings conducted by the commission chaired by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe ended in Harare yesterday and will be moving to Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare before resuming in the capital on November 10, where members of the police and soldiers would testify.

Zanu PF activist Tafadzwa Mugwadi, giving evidence before the commission, claimed had the army not stepped in to quell the demonstrations, MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa would have used street uprisings to become the next leader of Zimbabwe.

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