THE MDC-T and the Headlands family whose 12-year-old son Christpowers Maisiri died in a mysterious inferno over a week ago yesterday dismissed as “unconvincing” the police findings into the cause of the fire that led to the tragedy.
Report by Everson Mushava
They also said the speed with which the police carried out and concluded their investigations raised a lot of suspicion given past experiences with police probes.
Police on Sunday said Christpowers had died as a result of an explosion of fertiliser and tobacco chemicals that were being kept in the thatched hut in which the boy and his siblings were sleeping.
Police chief spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said they suspected the explosion could have been caused by a paraffin lamp left unattended inside the hut.
Charamba yesterday insisted the police had done their work “diligently without fear or favour” and urged disgruntled family members to air their views through proper police channels.
“We did not rush. We are still looking further into the matter but as far as forensic examinations are concerned, that is what came out.
Besides reports from forensic experts, police have been doing their best to investigate the matter,” she said.
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The MDC-T and Christpowers’ parents dismissed the police findings, insisting he was killed in an arson attack. The Maisiri family are members of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T.
“It seems the police were too much in a hurry to rule out foul play and exonerate certain individuals. If there is nothing to hide, an independent investigation should be allowed,” MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said.
Mwonzora said according to what his party had collected, it was clear Zanu PF elements were involved in the death of the Grade Four pupil. Beauty Muunganirwa, Christpowers’ mother, has also disputed police claims that the inferno was caused by a paraffin lamp saying she last used a paraffin lamp in her home three years ago.
“I use a torch,” Muunganirwa said.
“The paraffin lamps that police found in the house were very old and rusty items that were no longer in use. They were given to me by a certain teacher at Ruura Primary School a very long time ago and we have not been using paraffin in this home for the past three years. I even showed the Criminal Investigation Department officers the rusting lamps.”
Muunganirwa said she now feared for her life since the investigation appeared to have only helped to conceal rather than expose the truth. Political analyst and director at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute Pedzisai Ruhanya said given the international attention the death of the boy had received, the police report could have been meant to control damage.
“Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri has declared his support for Zanu PF. How then can he order his troops to arrest Zanu PF officials? Police and Zanu PF are hands in glove, they are mutual,” Ruhanya said.
“There is a tripartite arrangement between the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, Zanu PF intelligence and the political leadership to craft the party’s electoral strategies. This unholy trinity is what needs to be exposed. Otherwise, Zimbabwe is heading for more heinous acts.”
Meanwhile, Tsvangirai yesterday said they would approach President Robert Mugabe to demand an independent probe into the matter. Tsvangirai’s adviser Alex Magaisa said yesterday it was of concern that there was selective application of the law.
Magaisa said the Maisiri family was strongly of the view that the boy was murdered and they had provided the police with names of suspects.
Scientific explanations say that although ammonium nitrate (AN) is commonly used in explosives, it is by itself not an explosive. “Most commercial forms of explosives used for civil purposes would have ammonium nitrate as a basic raw material though not an explosive by itself,” reported Business Standard, an Indian newspaper, in August last year.
A study titled Material Safety Data Sheets of Ammonium Nitrate showed the fertiliser is stable, not easily flammable, unless mixed with other chemicals to make explosives by use of a detonator particularly in terror bombs and mine blasting.
A source in the chemical industry who spoke to NewsDay on condition of anonymity ruled out an explosion in the Headlands fire saying if four bags of fertiliser were used to make a bomb, the explosion would have destroyed the whole village.
“That’s 200 kilogrammes of AN!” exclaimed the expert. “The whole home would have been brought down and no one could have survived. The environment could have been destroyed. Yes, there could be reaction with tobacco chemicals, but this fire started from the top of the house, it is not really an explosion.”
