HARARE: One of the deputies of Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa is currently in South Africa for medical treatment following a bombing incident in Bulawayo magistrate court. Speaking at a press conference at the State House in Tanzania, after holding talks with host President Dr John Magufuli, President Mnangagwa said Vice President Kembo Mohadi and Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri were taken to SA for treatment. He said Mohadi was seriously injured and had to be airlifted to South Africa, where he is now recovering.
Muchinguri-Kashiri, Zimbabwe's Environment, Water and Climate Minister, was operated on as a shrapnel reportedly pierced through her chest. A former Mugabe loyalist, Mnangagwa said the object had “exploded a few inches away from me, but it is not my time.” The blast came as Zimbabwe prepares to hold its first post-Mugabe presidential election on July 30, with 75 year old Mnangagwa and 40 year old Nelson Chamisa, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, as the main contenders.
Meanwhile, two suspects who appeared before a Bulawayo magistrate court facing terrorism charges have been released as the State has failed to prove its case. Douglas Musekiwa and John Zulu, of no fixed abode, were accused of being the masterminds behind the “insurgency, banditry, sabotage or terrorism” that claimed two lives and injured 50. Both men appeared before Bulawayo resident magistrate Gladmore Mushowe late on Saturday, as the 48-hour detention period ran out. The magistrate gave the State another 24 hours that expired on Sunday.
The police in an attempt to build a case around the two men, sought and got permission to go through their mobile phone records. The attack, which was the single biggest threat to elections due on July 30, drew massive condemnation from across the world. Mnangagwa said he knew the people behind the attack‚ and pointed in the direction of politicians sympathetic to his predecessor‚ Robert Mugabe.
