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Faith Zaba
THE inquest into former army commander General Solomon Mujuru’s death has entered its third week at Harare Magistrates’ Court and Zimbabweans are still puzzled as to the cause of the fire which burnt one of the most decorated liberation war heroes to ashes.
Testimonies from forensic experts from the Harare Fire Brigade and Zesa did nothing but raise more questions into the circumstances under which Mujuru died at his Alamein Farm in Beatrice on August 16 2011.
As witness after witness testified in the inquest, the mystery deepened around what happened in the last hours of one of Zimbabwe’s most influential politicians — a man who was a power broker in the deeply divided Zanu PF and Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s husband.
It is not clear what the inquest will conclude, but one thing which seems to be emerging after most of the experts have testified is that Zimbabweans might never know whether the death was an accident or not.
State of Mujuru’s remains
A postmortem carried out by Dr Gabriel Alvero deduced the cause of death as “carbonation due to open fire, whose origin was unknown.
“The tracheal mucosa was red and black with carbon inside demonstrating that the deceased was alive when the fire started,” he said.
Unknown cause of fire
Director of Forensic Science Laboratory in the Zimbabwe Republic Police Bethwell Mutandiro said he could not say “whether or not a crime was committed”.
“My investigations did not point to either direction, but that is acceptable in such an inferno,” Mutandiro said.
He said the cause of fire could not be determined but ruled out the possibility of such inflammables as matches, candles, Vaseline, furniture cleaner or rat insecticide which were in the house causing the fire.
Mutandiro said indications were the fire started at the centre of Mujuru’s bedroom.
He also said there were indications too that another “seat of fire” was in the mini lounge from where Mujuru’s remains were retrieved.
When asked about the cause of fire, the forensic expert said: “We could not detect or come up with an obvious cause of the fire.”
Station Officer for the Harare Fire Brigade Clever Mafoti said his department failed to ascertain what could have caused the fire because key evidence that could have assisted them had been destroyed.
He said two fires broke out that fateful night at the farmhouse, a phenomenon usually associated with cases of arson. In rare cases, he said, the fire may be as a result of a short circuit.
But this was ruled out by an electrician at Zesa, Douglas Chiradza Nyakungu, who said investigations conducted at the farm ruled out an electrical fault.
With the Zesa expert saying there was no electrical fault, this has brought to the fore the question of what caused the fire that destroyed Mujuru’s farmhouse and so far the question remains unanswered 11 days into the inquest.
Nyakungu further told the court that of all appliances that were in the house, none of them had high current carrying capacity, ruling out the possibility of the fire having been ignited as a result of socket overload.
Mujuru dead before fire spread
Mutandiro said indications were that Mujuru died before the fire spread into the room where his remains were retrieved.
“The carpet beneath the body exhibited less fire damage compared to other areas. The indication is that the body prevented the carpet from catching fire,” he said.
According to his report presented in court: “This physical evidence indicates that the body was lying in that position before the fire progressed.”
The report also revealed that the carpet in the southern part of the room in which Mujuru’s remains were found was not damaged by the fire.
“Charred remains of a curtain were retrieved from the floor along the southern wall of the bedroom,” read the report. “The physical evidence on the curtains remains indicated a downward fire progression.”
Partially burnt window curtains were retrieved from the floor along the north and southern walls of the second lounge. But the window glass was completely shattered.
“The physical evidence indicated that the fire was concentrated in the main house, particularly the bedroom and the second lounge,” read the report.
The report also said there was no physical evidence indicating whether an electrical fault occurred before or after the fire.
“The contribution of an accelerant could not be determined as a result of the intensity and extent of the fire,” read the report.
“The body was burnt beyond physical recognition.”
AK-47 rifle unregistered
Deputy officer Commanding Law and Order Chief Superintendent Crispen Makadenge, who was the investigating officer, said he discovered 17 severely burnt firearms, seven magazines and burnt ammunition from the farmhouse.
Forensic ballistic expert, Detective Inspector Admire Mutizwa produced 15 commercial firearm licences issued to the late general and also told the court all the burnt ammunition discovered after the inferno were registered save for the AK-47 assault rifle.
No foul play
Makedenge ruled out foul play saying pathologist reports have shown that he died from carbonation, meaning there was inhalation of carbon monoxide.
But many questions remain unanswered in the inquest. The mystery surrounding the blue flame which engulfed Mujuru’s burning body has still not been unravelled. Will Zimbabweans ever know what caused the fire?
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