Made, Mutasa's campaign manager up for murder

Made, Mutasa's campaign manager up for murder

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By Lebo Nkatazo

ALBERT Nyakuedzwa, a campaign manager for two Zimbabwean government ministers, shocked a court this week where he is on trial for murder by blaming the police for killing a war veteran.

Nyakuedzwa, who headed the campaign teams for National Security Minister Didymus Mutasa and Agriculture Minister Joseph Made in the March 2005 general elections, faces murder charges alongside eight other Zanu PF supporters.

In a trial that started at the High Court in Harare Monday, Zimbabwean prosecutors said Nyakuedzwa, who is also the operations manager for the Grain Marketing Board in Manicaland province, joined with eight other men in the killing of war veteran, Wilson Mukono.

Mukono, the prosecutors say, had bought cables stolen from Nyakuedzwa's farm.

The nine who are represented by Harare lawyer, Aston Musunga, insist that when they caught Mukono, they handed him to the police who beat him to death.

State lawyers have kept the line that Nyakuedzwa and the eight other men on trial severely assaulted the war veteran and later handed him to the police in a bad state.

In custody, the prosecution added, Mukono’s condition deteriorated and he died on while being taken to the hospital.

Nyakuedzwa was named in the opposition MDC's petitions challenging Mutasa and Made’s election victory in Makoni North and West respectively. Nyakuedzwa is fingered as the man who led violent attacks on opposition members.

He was also accused of distributing maize for free in Made’s constituency using his influence at the GMB.
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