Speaking to journalists outside the court room Mrs Mujuru said: “The concerns were that we were not furnished with the documents and it is very unfair for a lawyer or family members to see the documents during the day of the inquest.”

“I only want to say that someone might have faltered on their part. I am the wife of the late General Mujuru and firstly I would like to say I was not given a chance to see the statements from the witnesses so that I could possibly assist them.”

Mrs Mujuru said she was unaware that she had a right to see the report 14 days before the inquest began. In the end Harare regional magistrate Walter Chikwanha postponed the hearing to Wednesday to allow her time to peruse the police report.

Mrs Mujuru’s remarks echo similar sentiments by family lawyer Thakor Kewada, who on Monday complained that he had not been furnished with all the statements from the witnesses lined up to testify.

“I got a copy of a subpoena with three witnesses, yet I know there are over 22 witnesses. All I was to do was sit and listen and take notes, totally unprepared. It put me into the boxing ring with my hands tied behind my back,” Kewada said.

Meanwhile Mrs Mujuru had a go at the incompetence of the police details guarding her husband’s farm. She said they were clearly unaware of the importance of the place they were guarding and had only been deployed there for six weeks.

“One would wonder how much they would have familiarised themselves with that particular area where they would be performing their security duties,” she said.

Political analyst Pedzisai Ruhanya told SW Radio Africa that Mrs Mujuru was now seeing first hand how incompetent the police force was. He said the police force had been turned into a political institution, “that was serving a few thugs. It’s important that she has seen it for herself that the police force in Zimbabwe is not fit for purpose. No one was arrested” over Mujuru’s death,” he said.

Ruhanya added that the police had contradicted evidence from a security guard who said he heard what sounded like gunfire. The police on duty have also claimed their cellphones had no airtime to make calls for help and the communication radios had not been working for six weeks. He said the police also claim not to have seen who the other person travelling in the car with Mujuru was.

Ruhanya said the whole chain of command, up to police commissioner Augustine Chihuri, needed to resign or be fired. He also accused the police of doing all they could to obstruct attempts by the inquest to find out exactly what did happen to Mujuru.

“Firstly they failed to properly investigate this gruesome murder of our liberation war hero. Now they come to court and during the inquest proceedings all they are trying to do is to block all possible leads and evidence to uncover what sounds like a political killing. They failed to do their own investigations so why can’t they keep away from court proceedings,” Ruhanya said.

A journalist covering the inquest told SW Radio Africa on Wednesday that most of the witnesses giving testimonies at the inquest appeared visibly frightened and were speaking in very low tones of voice. The magistrate had to ask most of them, especially police officers, to speak up more loudly.

By SW radio