By Idah Mhetu

PRESIDENT EmmersonMnangagwa says the much-awaited Commission of Inquiry report into the August 1 Harare post-election violence which claimed six lives and property will be out next week.

He said this while officially opening the on-going 17th Zanu PF’s Annual National People’sConference in Esigodini, Matabeleland Friday afternoon.

President Mnangagwa said he and his deputies have since gone through the report and were all agreed it must be published.

“After voting by the process of announcing elections, we experienced violence in Harare. We condemned that 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 1st August 2018 and I will be making it public next week.”

His pledges come amid growing demands by rights groups and the broader civil society for the President to make the findings public.

The report completion follows a two month hearing by the seven-member panel which was led by former South African President Kgalema Motlanthe.

Six civilians were gunned down by what is widely believed to be soldiers who were deployed into central Harare on the fateful day to quell wild protests by suspected MDC supporters who were angered by the slow announcement of the results by ZEC.

Both the army and the opposition have denied any direct hand in the most violent electoral episode since the bloody June 2008 Presidential run-off election in which the MDC claims hundreds of its followers were killed in state sponsored violence.

The latest violence episode dented what has often been described as the country’s most peaceful election period since independence.