# Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force Date: 2018 ## The fact On 1 August 2018 Zimbabwean soldiers opened fire in Harare after the 30 July presidential poll. Reuters contemporaneously recorded six dead in later coverage of the Constitutional Court confirmation. The Motlanthe commission, whose report [Mnangagwa](/people/emmerson-mnangagwa) made public on 18 December 2018, found security forces used disproportionate force and caused the unnecessary death of innocent civilians. ## Context He is commander-in-chief. The army executed. Motlanthe’s panel wrote. The MDC Alliance was not found to be the perpetrator. [Nelson Chamisa](/people/nelson-chamisa) is unresolved. 30 July poll; 1 August shootings; 18 December Motlanthe publication; 24 August Constitutional Court confirmation. Stored as one 1 August 2018 Fact. Keep Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force on 2018-08-01 separate from neighbouring Mnangagwa instruments. The president of Zimbabwe is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can be sworn, certify a ZEC return, and publish a commission report. He does not sit as a Motlanthe commissioner, a SADC observer, or a Constitutional Court panel. ## Evidence and sources Reuters carries the official instrument or communique. The Guardian records the same dated act independently. ## Significance The path is [civic space](/drivers/civic-space): a completed post-election lethal dispersal the Motlanthe report called disproportionate. ## What is established and what is not Established: Soldiers opened fire on 1 August 2018. Reuters recorded six dead. Motlanthe found disproportionate force and unnecessary civilian death. Not established: A unique Factrail shooting census beyond those instruments, or that Mnangagwa personally fired. What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions. The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit. The army executed. Motlanthe wrote. Sharing execution is not a reason to drop 1 August 2018.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force, not a later speech about Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force. Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force on 2018-08-01 is not a licence to treat every later Reuters communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Soldiers open fire in Harare after the 30 July poll; Motlanthe later finds disproportionate force into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He commands the defence forces. The army executed. Motlanthe wrote. Sharing execution is not a reason to drop 1 August 2018. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. ## People - Emmerson Mnangagwa: https://factrail.ai/people/emmerson-mnangagwa ## Drivers - Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space - Mnangagwa post-Mugabe continuity: https://factrail.ai/drivers/mnangagwa-post-mugabe-continuity ## Sources - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/27/emmerson-mnangagwa-wins-second-term-as-president-of-zimbabwe - https://www.reuters.com/article/world/top-zimbabwe-court-confirms-mnangagwas-presidential-election-victory-idUSKCN1L90W5/ ## Methodology https://factrail.ai/methodology Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/zw-harare-shootings-2018