AN ELECTRICAL fault has been ruled out as the cause of a fire which killed the former army commander General Solomon Mujuru at his farm in Beatrice on August 16 last year.
An inquest into the Zanu PF power broker’s death entered its eighth day on Thursday with an official from the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and the CID’s lead detective on the case taking the witness stand as the 27th and 28th witnesses.
Douglas Chiradza Nyakungu, who is a Customer Services Officer at ZESA’s Beatrice office, told the inquest their investigations had disproved the possibility of an electric short circuit as the cause of the fire.
General Mujuru’s charred remains were found in the 14-room farmhouse after an inferno swept through in the early hours, destroying everything in its path. The general's wife, Vice President Joice Mujuru, was in their Harare home at the time.
On Wednesday, the Fire Brigade said its investigations were inconclusive, but a fire expert said they had identified what they thought were two sources of the fire in the main bedroom and the lounge. Fires with two sources, said Clever Mafoti, the Chief Fire Officer at the Fire Brigade HQ in Harare, usually point to arson or an electrical fault.
But taking the witness stand on Thursday, Nyakungu effectively quashed the electric fault theory – leaving arson as the only likely cause of the fire.
Nyakungu, who was one of the last people to see Mujuru alive after enjoying an evening drink with the general at a local motel, told the inquest: "Actually, the fire burnt electrical appliances and gadgets.”
Explaining his conclusions, Nyakungu said when he checked the distribution box which receives power from the transformer and in turn distributes it throughout the house it had been extensively burnt and the fire seemed to have started from the ceiling.
He said even though two breakers – which protect the plugs for the various electrical sources like geyser or lights – were down, after analysis they ruled out that they could have tripped due to an electrical fault.
"We also checked if there had been a high currency appliance which uses a lot of power but there was none. That meant the issue of overloading was out," he told the inquest being held before Harare magistrate Walter Chikwanha.
The ZESA official said the power cables in the house were enclosed in steel pipes which would have cracked and left holes if there had been an electric fault.
Turning to the night of August 15, Nyakungu remembered meeting the general around 7PM at the Beatrice Hotel, a few miles from his farm.
"He bought me a beer at the motel and we chatted for almost an hour before he indicated that he was leaving," he testified.
The general had left early, he told the court, indicating that he needed to be up by 2AM for a road trip to Polokwane, South Africa.
"We escorted him to his car but he received a phone call and for five minutes he spoke on the phone after which he waved goodbye and drove off,” Nyakungu added.
He told the inquest that early next morning, he had been contacted by Grant Nakhozwe, whose Blackstone Farm is adjacent to Mujuru’s, informing him about the fire.
Nyakungu said he cancelled as trip to Kadoma and headed for the farm where he found the general dead.
The last witness for the day was Chief Superintendent Crispen Makedenge, who is the Deputy Commanding Officer of the Criminal Investigations Department and also the lead investigator into Mujuru’s death.
He told the inquest that they had recovered 17 firearms – 15 from a gun cabinet which had been blasted opened due to the heat – and two in the bedroom in a fitted wardrobe. Magazines and ammunition were also recovered both from the cabinet and the wardrobe.
Superintendent Makedenge was asked about Mujuru's condition when he arrived at the farm at daybreak on August 16.