Mujuru war deputy calls for enquiry into death

By Lance Guma

The second most senior liberation war army commander, after Solomon Mujuru, has called for a commission of enquiry into his suspicious death in a farm house fire last week Tuesday. Wilfred Mhanda, known in the war as Dzinashe Machingura, told SW Radio Africa he was ‘quite shocked and touched by his death and actually surprised that President Mugabe didn’t come out openly to say it is suspicious.”

“Any person who has listened to the story, who has read the papers, clearly can come to no other conclusion except that there was naked foul play and why the President could not come out clearly about that and announce the establishment of a commission of enquiry baffles the mind,” Mhanda told our Question Time programme on Wednesday.

Mhanda said that it was a very ‘painful coincidence’ that General Mujuru died on the very night that he (Mhanda) launched his book “Dzino, Memories of a Freedom Fighter”. In the book he talks about how he felt betrayed by both the late Mujuru and Robert Mugabe, following a crackdown in the late 70s when several guerrilla commanders were arrested for questioning Mugabe’s suitability as leader.

“We might have had our problems in the past (with Mujuru) but we were quite close and got along very well and understood each other,” Mhanda told us. Asked what Mujuru’s death means for ZANU PF and Zimbabwe, Mhanda said Mujuru was the second most powerful person within ZANU PF and its decision making Politburo. The death he said ‘creates a vacuum within ZANU PF’.

Just as SW Radio Africa reported on Tuesday, Mhanda also believes Mujuru’s death benefits Mugabe more than anyone else. Mujuru “as many people have testified including Dumiso Dabengwa was the only one in the current politburo who could speak out to Mugabe. No one now is prepared to do this,” Mhanda added.

During the Question Time interview Mhanda also described Mugabe as intolerant and not willing to accept other people’s views during and after the liberation war.

Meanwhile Vice President Joice Mujuru on Tuesday publicly spoke out about the suspicious nature of her husband’s death. Speaking to members of a women’s football team Mrs Mujuru said she believed her husband could have escaped the fire:

“The problem is we just hear its fire. But what happened from 8.30pm to when the fire was seen? That’s where the story is. I was called just after 2am and told that the house is on fire. The roof had collapsed, but that doesn’t happen instantly. It means the fire had started around that time when he got home on Monday night. That should be the time when people should start, you know, whatever they want to look at because we can’t just start when the roof has collapsed.”

Mrs. Mujuru also questioned why her husband opted to run for the door of the 14-roomed house, when he could have used the bedroom window instead. “The (bedroom) set up had two western big windows, so if you want to come out you just jump. Our little kids used to jump and we used to laugh about it. It was closer to come out through the window than the door,” she said.

“I suppose if they were to give us something satisfying it would make my heart rest. We are anxiously waiting for the police to finish their investigations. They have invited all the experts they could find to look at what could have happened,” Mrs Mujuru added. SW Radio Africa