Former Mines Minister and Zanu PF MP for Guruve South, Edward Takaruza Chindori-Chininga (58), has died in a fatal car accident. Reports reaching Nehanda Radio are that his car hit a tree Wednesday evening and he died on the spot.
Chininga’s body is said to have been taken to Guruve mortuary.
The version from the Zanu PF controlled state media is that Chininga failed to stop at the T-junction of Raffingora and Mvurwi roads and rammed into a tree. He was said to be travelling from Raffingora to Guruve when the accident occurred. Passengers in his car escaped with minor injuries.
But as previously warned by Facebook activist Baba Jukwa, Chininga had already been marked for assassination by Mugabe’s regime with suspicion in Zanu PF that he was in fact Baba Jukwa and leaking sensitive Zanu PF secrets.
Sources are telling Nehanda Radio the accident involving his silver jeep took place at the Shinje turn off. People in the area say there are no nearby trees at that junction and claim the car was physically moved to ‘fake’ the appearance it hit a tree.
One Nehanda Radio reader asked the question “If the car VEERED OFF THE ROAD AND HIT A TREE where is the airbag???? and why is the windscreen intact?”
Writing on Facebook a few hours after the accident Baba Jukwa blamed what he called the Zanu PF “Mashonaland Central mafia.”
“Chindori Chininga openly told them that he will join the Vapanduki (rebellion) crew if they continued with their attempt to nail him down and l wonder why he didn’t listen when l was all along warning him of the impending danger.”
Baba Jukwa went on to issue another warning to Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono saying “I wonder still as well why Gideon Gono is not heeding my warning. Funeral wake is going to visit his family very soon if he doesn’t take drastic measures to save his precious life.”
“They want your head in the platter. Saviour Kasukuwere, Nicholas Goche, Sydney Sekeramayi, Dick Mafios and the evil crew are responsible for Hon Chindori Chininga’s death and are also responsible for an attempt on the life of Mashonaland Central Governor Martin Dinha,” Baba Jukwa alleged.
Also writing on social networking site Facebook, Herald Deputy Editor Caesar Zvayi was quick to dismiss the assassination theory saying “this guy hit a tree on his own, sad, tragic, accidents happen. What of the prospect of bad driving?”
“I know a number of guys who have been in numerous scrapes on the roads. Before trying to blame anyone we have to weigh whether this guy was a threat to anyone. I doubt he was a threat to anybody.
“One of our managers here at Zimpapers also hit a train in broad daylight in Harare for that matter, not even on the highway. People are known to doze behind the wheel. Am dismissing the conspiracy theorists given the details I heard about the accident,” Zvayi wrote.
More details as we get them…………
This is not the first accident involving Chininga. Only last year one person died while seven others, including Chindori-Chininga were injured when their vehicles collided in Concession.
That accident occurred near the 5km peg along Mazowe-Centenary Road at around 10am involving Chininga’s Mercedes Benz and a Nissan pick up truck.
Chininga who was Environment and Tourism Minister from 1995 to 2000 was alone and heading towards Guruve while the truck was headed for Harare with eight passengers.
Two years ago ZANU PF expelled Chininga from the constitution making committee (COPAC) on allegations that he leaked secret documents to the MDC led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
The MP took to facebook and launched an astonishing attack on Didymus Mutasa, the party’s Secretary for Administration.
Only last week a parliamentary portfolio committee chaired by Chininga exposed serious discrepancies between what government receives from the diamond mining sector and remittances claims by producers.
“In January 2010 Mbada Diamonds attempted to auction its diamonds, in violation of both national and international law. The aborted diamond auction sale opened a Pandora’s box, revealing several irregularities and loopholes in the entire diamond value chain,” the committee said.
The Chininga accident follows hot on the heels of Martin Dinha, the Mashonaland Central governor, claiming he had escaped an assassination attempt as Zanu PF infighting takes a nasty turn ahead of key polls this year.
The stricken advocate told the Daily News yesterday that he was lucky to be alive and heaped praises on members of the public, who had launched a “batai munhu” (manhunt) for Kozanai Chijokwe, who tried to ram into his Land Rover vehicle three times.
“He was trying to cause an accident and we stopped him,” Dinha said yesterday. “As we approached him, he drove straight into me forcing me to roll over to the safe side. However, my leg was caught by his vehicle and doctors say it has a crack,” he said.
Although Chijokwe attempted to flee, he was caught after abandoning his off-roader and hiding in the bushes. Yesterday, Bindura police confirmed the incident and said they were investigating a case of attempted murder on Dinha, with Chijokwe languishing in police custody.
