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1975 HERBERT CHITEPO:
HERBERT CHITEPO: As Rhodesia’s first black lawyer, Chitepo was considered a rising star, although his light was extinguished by a mysterious car bomb in March 1975. Zambian authorities blamed his colleagues in Zanu, a charge they strongly denied. His murder remains unresolved, although Rhodesian author, Peter Stiff says that a former British SAS soldier, Hugh Hind was responsible. -
Period: to
HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE'S MYSTERIOUS ACCIDENTS
THE history of Zimbabwe will be incomplete if it does not take into consideration the number of mysterious accidents that have claimed the lives of top Zanu PF politicians.
From the death of Herbert Chitepo to the Wednesday night one that claimed former Mines minister Edward Chindori-Chininga, Zimbabwe now has a curiously high number of unexplained deaths of politicians in road accidents. -
JOSIAH TONGOGARA
JOSIAH TONGOGARA: The Zanla Commander died on December 26 1979, six days after the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement, in a car crash. Questions abound on what caused his death. Authorities insist that the death was accidental, although there are several theories of what caused the accident. On the day of his death, the US and Soviet embassies in Zambia concurred that it was an “inside job”. In his memoirs, former Rhodesian Prime Minister, Ian Smith says of Tongogara “his own people” kille -
1994 SYDNEY MALUNGA
SYDNEY MALUNGA: A single-minded and popular Member of Parliament for Makokoba, Sydney Malunga met his death along Siye Phambili Drive, Bulawayo, in August 1994. Reports then said his driver was trying to avoid a dog, leading to the fatal car crash. There is scepticism of the official statement. -
1996 PETER PAMIRE
PETER PAMIRE: A rising black empowerment activist, Pamire died in 1996, in a mysterious car accident. An inquest into his death failed to determine how he had died, although there are suggestions that he may have been murdered. This has not yet been proven. -
2001 BORDER GEZI
BORDER GEZI: Gezi had been a rising star in Zanu PF, rising to governor and then Youth minister before his death in a car crash on April 28 2001. Gezi died when his driver lost control of his ministerial vehicle, although an inquest later blamed two senior officials from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department for negligence in fitting a defective tyre to his car. -
2001 Moven Mahachi
MOVEN MAHACHI: The Defence minister died barely a month after the death of Gezi, raising questions whether the accident that claimed his life had been a genuine one. Mahachi was killed on May 26, 2001 when his Range Rover collided with a small car along the Mutare -
Nyanga Road. -
2008 Elliot Manyika
ELLIOT MANYIKA: The Zanu PF commissar died on December 6 2008 in a car crash on his way to Gwanda on a party mission. His brother, Allen, reportedly told mourners at his funeral that Manyika had been warned not to go to Gwanda, but he had insisted. -
2009 Susan Tsvangirai
SUSAN TSVANGIRAI: The wife of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai did not live long enough to enjoy her new found status as the spouse of the Premier. Susan died on March 6 along the Harare-Masvingo Highway, barely after a month after Tsvangirai joined the coalition government. Tsvangirai said the accident appeared to be genuine, although there were some naysayers. -
2013 Edward Chindori-Chininga
EDWARD CHINDORI-CHININGA: The former Mines minister died on Wednesday after his car hit a tree. Investigations into the accident are on-going. However, sceptics will point that it is curious that Chindori-Chininga died shortly after releasing a damning report on diamond revenue. In a bizarre coincidence, the Guruve South legislator was involved in another accident last year after a public fallout with his Zanu PF colleagues over the drafting of the new Constitution.
