The family of the late Zimbabwean ambassador to the DRC, Johannes Tomana (55), have roped in the police to investigate his suspicious death, amid fears that he was poisoned at a funeral in Honde Valley over the weekend.
“We shared our concerns with Ruda police in Honde Valley and we were informed that CID Forensics is on its way from Harare,” a relative is being quoted by several media outlets.
Tomana, a controversial former Attorney General was attending a relative’s funeral in Honde Valley, Manicaland when he suddenly complained about stomach aches which effectively linked his death to food poisoning.
He died on Sunday while being rushed to the hospital.
In confirming his death, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade spokesperson, Livit Mugejo said they were still gathering more details.
“We have just received sad news about the death of Ambassador Tomana in Honde Valley. We are still gathering more details,” said Mugejo.
Tomana’s daughter, Mutsa, described her late father as “very generous and prayerful. He loved his family.”
During the late former President Robert Mugabe’s time in power, Tomana was regarded as Mugabe’s enforcer, using draconian laws to arrest government critics and undermine human rights.
When he was a Prosecutor General, Tomana attempted to charge then opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai with treason.
Former Prosecutor-General Mr Kumbirai Hodzi said he was shocked by Tomana’s demise describing him as “an inspirational and visionary leader.”
“It is with utter shock that I received the news of the death of my beloved comrade, brother and my former boss, the former Prosecutor-General, and the ambassador to the DRC, the Honourable Johannes Tomana,” said Hodzi.
“I have known and worked very closely with Hon Tomana from the time he was a young university student, lawyer in private practice and a top most lawyer advisor in Government as Attorney-General and then as the top most Chief Prosecutor as PG, and of course, in his last position as an Ambassador.
“You will all recall that Amb Tomana held the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Zimbabwe and from there he became the first ever Prosecutor-General of the Republic of Zimbabwe. We, who closely worked with him, will remember Amb Tomana as an inspirational and visionary leader.”
Hodzi added: “Amb Tomana was a first class highly qualified legal mind. He held an Upper Second LLB degree and a First Class degree in International Law. He was a highly patriotic Zimbabwean and a strong Pan-African. Amb Tomana taught all of us to always put our country and continent Africa first.
“We all remember his heroic and patriotic legal fight when he led Zimbabwe’s legal fight against the imposition of the illegal sanctions regime imposed by the so-called Western powers — the US, the UK, the EU and their allies Australia, Japan and Canada,” he said.
It is not yet clear if Tomana will get any hero status.
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