THE coroner overseeing the inquest into former army commander Rtd General Solomon Mujuru’s death launched an astonishing attack on his family’s lawyer on Monday as the 13-day hearing ended.
Harare Magistrate Walter Chikwanha accused lawyer Thakor Kewada of “violating” the Inquest Act with an application made last week for Mujuru’s body to be exhumed, arguing that the post mortem was bungled by a pathologist.
General Mujuru, a powerful figure in Zanu PF and husband of Vice President Joice Mujuru, died in a mysterious fire at his Ruzambo Farm in Beatrice in the early house of August 16 last year.
Police and forensic experts who testified during the inquest said they could not establish the source of the fire, and a pathologist who took the stand last week admitted the equipment provided to him to carry out a post-mortem fell before professional standards.
Dr Alviero Gonzalez’s testimony prompted the Mujuru family lawyer to seek his exhumation from the Heroes’ Acre where he was buried on August 20.
To a stunned courtroom, coroner Chikwanha began: "After I carefully looked over the request by Mr Kewada on behalf of the Mujuru family to grant exhumation of the body of the late general, I will not grant it for the following reasons.
"Firstly, for Mr Kewada to conclude that Dr Alviero [Gonzalez] had not carried out a proper job it is highly inappropriate.
"I have reservations on such comments and according to certain sections within the Inquest Act, Mr Kewada cannot address the magistrate over facts provided by witnesses, he is not qualified for that.”
The coroner said the duty of lawyers was to simply assist the court in asking relevant questions, and that it was not their role to then make judgement on the evidence heard in court.
"Secondly, even if one is to assume that the law allows it, the opinion that the post mortem was not carried properly would be misplaced because I have not yet gone through all the facts from witnesses including Dr Alviero's evidence," the coroner added.
"It is only after the court has analysed all evidence before me to make conclusions on how the deceased met his death. The court should be accorded time to analyse and then make recommendations to the AG's office.”
Chikwanha said the AG's office was the one mandated to act on the recommendations to be made by the court.
"It is not the court's duty to grant or not to grant exhumation of the body, we will then be acting outside the Inquest Act,” Chikwanha continued.
"I will therefore dismiss the application and this brings an end and closure of the enquiry."
Satisfied ... Vice President Mujuru arrives in court on Monday for conclusion of inquest hearings
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Tragic ... Solomon Mujuru died in a blaze at his farmhouse in Beatrice on August 16 last year
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Mystery blaze ... The Mujuru farmhouse after the August 16 fire
Outside court, Kewada, seemed unfazed by the harsh comments from the coroner, telling reporters that he “sort of expected it and was therefore not crashed by it”.
"I'm just glad we exposed a fair amount of facts like the possible contamination of samples, the pathologist performing a post mortem without the required equipment,” he said.
"We've played our part and made our point. We now wait for the ruling and believe me we will study it and then take it from there," he said, adding that he was not sure how long the coroner would take before publishing his findings.
The late general’s brother, Joel Mujuru, said the magistrate had done his duty.
In a carefully-worded statement following headline-grabbing outbursts made during the course of the hearings, he said: "The magistrate was not biased, he did what had to be done.
“As a family, it is a question of being satisfied or not. If we are satisfied we will say, if we are not satisfied we will again come out and say."
Vice President Joice Mujuru, the late general’s widow, was the 39th and last witness to testify. As expected, she did not take the stand but entered a sworn affidavit.