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October 2011 Vol 37, Featured Articles, National News

Mujuru alliance with MDC-T might have cost him his life

By SW radio   Wed, Nov 16, 2011

A senior government official has told SW Radio Africa that the late army general Solomon Mujuru was murdered after plans for an alliance between his faction of ZANU PF and the MDC-T were uncovered by Mugabe.

Speaking on condition of anonymity the official said Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had agreed a deal with Mujuru that would have seen his wife Joice Mujuru be Vice President in a ‘new look coalition government’ - in the event the MDC-T leader won the next presidential election.

An allegedly furious Mugabe and Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa demanded a meeting with Mujuru, and it was during that meeting that tempers flared uncontrollably. Recently leaked US diplomatic cables had suggested that relations between Mujuru and Mugabe were so strained at one time that the two did not speak to each other, after Mujuru challenged the ZANU PF leader to step down.

The cables leaked by the WikiLeaks website also exposed the fact that the Mujuru faction sponsored the presidential campaign of former Finance Minister, and one time ZANU PF politburo member, Simba Makoni, in 2008. That move is said to have cost Mugabe votes in ZANU PF strongholds. Since the WikiLeaks saga Mugabe is said to have decided he can only trust the rival Mnangagwa faction.

What has happened since has been a series of events aimed at weaking the Mujuru faction. First was to be the suspicious death of Solomon Mujuru in the mysterious fire at his farmhouse in Beatrice. Next was to be the arrest, on ‘espionage’ charges, of Mujuru’s right hand man, prominent banker Farai Rwodzi. This ‘key money man’ in the faction calls Joice Mujuru ‘mainini’ or auntie, and is a close relative.

Rumblings of discontent from Mujuru’s 69 year old elder brother Joel Tazviwinga Mujuru also suggest a lot is being kept from the public. Joel has already said he is not happy with the police investigation and the way senior ZANU PF officials are ignoring the matter.

The Mujuru family have also said they are contemplating removing Solomon’s remains from the National Heroes Acre and reburying him in their home of Chivhu.

Joel was also particularly scathing of State Security Minister Sydney Sekeramayi, saying as a close relative his refusal to help the family to find answers was very hurtful. “Sekeramayi is a nephew in our family, but he has not been coming here,” Joel told the NewsDay newspaper. Attempts by Joel to speak to police spokespersons Wayne Bvudzijena and Andrew Phiri also yielded nothing. - SW Radio Africa News

By SW radio

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