PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe walked in unannounced moments before a doctor was due to conduct a post-mortem on Rtd General Solomon Mujuru's body, an inquest heard on Friday.
The body of Vice President Joice Mujuru’s husband had just been brought to One Commando Barracks in Harare from Beatrice on August 16, 2011, and Dr Gabriel Alviero Gonzalez, who works at Parirenyatwa Hospital, was brought in to conduct a post mortem.
Asked by prosecutor, Sharon Fero, who was present during the post mortem, Cuba-born Dr Gonzalez – speaking through an interpreter – said the Officer in Charge of Parirenyatwa Police Inspector Viano was in attendance throughout, with a second individual he failed to identify.
Dr Gonzalez added: “The head of state [President Robert Mugabe] was there before the post mortem began, but he later went out.”
Several people in the packed courtroom exchanged curious glances, but nothing further was said.
President Mugabe had arrived at One Commando late in the afternoon on August 16 after Mujuru’s charred remains were brought there from his Ruzambo Farm in Beatrice. His body was recovered after a mysterious fire swept through the 14-room farmhouse.
Mugabe made Mujuru the first black commander of the Zimbabwe National Army at independence in 1980.
Mujuru quit the army to enter politics, and later stepped down as MP in 1995 to concentrate on his private businesses, while maintaining a strong influence in Zanu PF power games.
He was leading a faction in Zanu PF seeking to hasten President Robert Mugabe’s exit from the political stage, and thrust his wife, Joice, in the top job.
This faction was locked in a war of political attrition with another led by Defence Minister Emerson Mnangagwa, thought to be Mugabe’s preferred heir.
Speaking to reporters after viewing Mujuru’s badly charred remains, Mugabe said: “I have never seen a person die in such a horrific manner, we are all shocked.”
Dr Gonzelez told the inquest One Commando barracks did not have the equipment for conducting a post mortem. Inspector Viano, he told the Harare Magistrates' Court, was sent to Parirenyatwa to bring equipment but it did not meet professional standards,.
Mujuru's body was badly burnt the cause of death could not be established, he added.
The inquest continues.
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Shocking death ... President Mugabe meeting General Mujuru and his wife