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Aspiring Zanu PF senator died of food poison
By Staff
Reporter
THE race for Senate seats within Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF has claimed
one life after an aspiring candidate was poisoned in Mashonaland Central.
Rosemary Chitura was poisoned during a victory celebration for Mazowe West MP Sabina Zinyemba, the privately-owned Daily Mirror newspaper reported Thursday.
The paper said Chitura, who was also the chief nursing services officer for Premier Services Medical Investments, a subsidiary of Premier Medical Aid Society, was poisoned on July 23.
The Mirror, quoting "impeccable sources", said the post mortem results showed Chitura died after eating food laced with poison.
“A post mortem that was handed over to the police and Zanu PF’s national political commissar (Elliot) Manyika revealed that Chitura was poisoned. Manyika was concerned by the outcome of the post mortem. Manyika attended the burial,” a source told the paper.
“If you get to the bottom of the whole issue, you will realise that the matter is political. She was strongly tipped to become a senator in the upcoming Senate. Her popularity could have ruffled feathers here and there.”
Efforts to contact Manyika, the Minister Without Portfolio in the President’s Office, were fruitless.
Zinyemba confirmed that Chitura had indeed died of food poisoning, but was quick to add that the tragedy could have been a result of personal difference between the perpetrator and the victim.
“We held the victory celebration party on Saturday and all had gone well until the sad incident took place which left one woman dead,” the MP said.
“I believe it was a personalised thing that out of thousands of ruling party supporters who attended the celebrations, only one person was poisoned.”
The victory celebrations
in which thousands of other party workers also attended were held at
Concession in Mashonaland Central, a Zanu (PF) stronghold.
Zinyemba took a swipe at the architects of the poisoning and called
on investigators to get to the bottom of the matter so that those responsible
will face the full wrath of the law.
“As the Member of Parliament for Mazowe West, I am disappointed with what happened. Zvinogumbura izvi zvakaitika. (The act has disappointed me),” Zinyemba said.
The MP added: “If the culprit was an enemy of the party (Zanu (PF), I say shame on him or her. They are cowards. We do not solve our differences by killing each other.”
Concession police confirmed the incident and said that investigations were underway. However national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said police had extracted body tissues from the corpse for further analysis to establish the substance in the fatal poisoning.
“We have picked up suspects, but we have to seriously look into the matter to establish the exact cause of death,” Bvudzijena said. “We have taken body tissues from the deceased for further analysis using a government pathologist.”
The government has tabled a Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament to re-introduce a Senate made up of 68 members, 50 of them directly elected from the country’s 10 administrative provinces.
According to the
Bill, each of the 10 administrative provinces would be delimitated into
five constituencies. President Robert Mugabe would appoint 18 other
members of the Senate from various interest groups, like traditional
chiefs, women’s groups and disabled organisations, among others.
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