GWERU police say they have charged the driver of the haulage truck involved in the horrific crash which claimed the life of the Zimbabwe Independent’s Deputy Editor Edwin Dube.
Police say James Maputsa, 35, will appear in court soon to answer two charges of culpable homicide after Dube, 37, and a passenger, Collin Murozvi, were killed in the accident on Monday night.
Chief inspector Douglas Maupa, the officer in charge of Gweru police’s traffic department said: “We are finalising our investigation but I can tell you that we have opened a double culpable homicide case against Mr Maputsa.”
Police say Maputsa, who was driving a heavy goods haulage truck registered to Coetsee Farm in Triangle, shunted Dube’s Isuzu twin cab off the road after encroaching into the opposite lane on the single carriageway Harare-Bulawayo road.
Dube’s vehicle veered off the road and smashed into a tree, causing extensive damage to the front. Police say the married father of three suffered fatal head injuries on impact.
Dube was travelling from Bulawayo to Harare at the time of the accident. He gave a lift to four hitch-hikers, including Murozvi.
Police say three passengers who were seated on the back seat were treated for injuries at Gweru Provincial Hospital. The only female passenger, Farmida Mutaki, 26, of Kwekwe, was discharged on Tuesday.
Two others, Edmond Chiwaipira, 34, and Noah Chapu, 34, are said to be in a stable condition.
Chapu, who was coming from Botswana and on his way to Harare, told reporters from his hospital bed that he remembered very little of the accident.
“What I only remember was a loud bang and the next thing we found ourselves trapped in the vehicle which was upside down,” he said.
Chapu, who was the first to be pulled out of the wreckage, says he passed out shortly after.
“I have no recollection of who rescued me, whether it was the fire brigade, the police or fellow motorists ... I just woke up here.”
Dube will be buried in Bulawayo on Friday, his family said.