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The gruesome manner in which retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru died in a fire on Tuesday morning has prompted an avalanche of conspiracy theories. More questions than answers have arisen. Here are just but a few: We are told the farm has two entrances. Considering the vice-president’s husband and former army commander’s farm was […]
The gruesome manner in which retired army commander General Solomon Mujuru died in a fire on Tuesday morning has prompted an avalanche of conspiracy theories. More questions than answers have arisen.
Here are just but a few:
We are told the farm has two entrances. Considering the vice-president’s husband and former army commander’s farm was guarded by soldiers and the police, why did it take them long to notice the house was on fire?
We are told the maid was alerted by her relative who lives in the area, what time was she alerted and how far are the farm workers’ living quarters from the main house?
From the time they were awaken, how long did the farm workers and guards take to phone the police and fire brigade?
Who saw the General arrive at the farm and whom did he arrive with?
His car was parked in the correct position close to the farm house. Who parked the car and where are the car keys?
We are told the maid lit a candle, what time did she light the candle, was it one candle or more and where did she leave the candle(s)?
If the theory that the candle burnt the house is true, was Mujuru already asleep when electricity was restored at 9pm? According to close friends and family members, Mujuru was a light sleeper and to them it is inconceivable to assume that he did not notice power had been restored. If he did notice, wouldn‘t he have blown out the candle when the lights came on?
How can one of Zimbabwe’s richest men and husband to the vice-president not have a generator?
Is it possible that a candle can torch tyres and tubes which were reportedly in the corridor?
Even if he was drunk, as some allege, when he arrived home at 8pm, was he still too drunk to smell smoke when the fire broke out hours later?
Indications to friends and relatives who visited the farm are that the bedroom where he was supposed to be asleep was not badly damaged by the fire. So why would he have run towards the inferno, instead of escaping through the huge bedroom windows, which did not have burglar bars? Why would he have passed three or four windows from his bedroom to go for the front door?
The windows do not have burglar bars and are set low on the walls. Are we saying that the former army commander, a trained soldier, who survived years in the bush during the struggle, did not have survival instincts to go for the windows centimetres away?
Mujuru was known to friends and relatives to keep ammunition close to him for his protection. Wouldn’t he have shot his way out of, or through a window or locked door?
Was the fire so intense that it reduced part of his body to ashes without accelerants?
How is it possible that the sofas survived the fire when Mujuru was burnt to ashes in the same room? We are told that nothing was recovered save for sofas and a few other items.
How did they determine it was Mujuru’s body at the scene when no DNA tests were carried out to identify it?
Why did the police allow people to tamper with the crime scene by allowing them to walk in and out of the house before investigations?
Rumour has it that he was in the company of a woman, what happened to this so-called woman and where is she?
The different accounts of the sequence of events, such as the time when the fire was said to have started and the charred remains found in the dining room at his Beatrice Farm, south of Harare, have given rise to the conspiracy theories.
Ordinary people on the streets and politicians suspect foul play.
Rumours are rife across the country that he might have been assassinated and thrown into a house that was later set on fire, while others are saying since he loved his whisky, he might have fallen asleep while drinking and left a candle burning.
Police have already launched a full-scale investigation into the cause of the fire that killed Mujuru, who was Zimbabwe’s first army commander after independence and commander of Zanla forces.
Many Zimbabweans are finding it difficult to view his death as accidental because the different accounts being given about how and where the fire started are raising more questions than answers.
Also making it difficult to accept his death as accidental is the timing of his death. Mujuru was one of the key strategists and main political brokers.
In Zanu PF circles, he was referred to as the kingmaker or queenmaker after he outmaneuvered his long-time rival Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2004 for land his wife, Joice, to the the powerful post of vice-president of the party and the country.
In discussions with NewsDay at Vice-President Mujuru’s home in Chisipite, top Zanu PF officials said the sequence of events did not make any sense and it was difficult to even comprehend how a former guerilla who survived bomb attacks and gun battles during the liberation struggle could have been burnt beyond recognition under such circumstances.
Mujuru’s body was found close to the door in the dining room and what remained of his body was put in a plastic bag.
It is not surprising that such theories have spread across the web on social networks.
Send your comments and views on the death of Gen Mujuru to the editor – [email protected]
