Mujuru Family Demands Inquest Results in Zimbabwe

FARE THEE WELL . . . Vice-President Joice Mujuru kneels before a portrait of her late husband Retired General Solomon Mujuru and the casket containing his body at Stodart Hall in Mbare on August 21, 2011., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

Mujuru family demands inquest results

Thursday, 15 March 2012 00:00
Court Reporter

THE magistrate who presided over the inquest into the death of General Solomon Mujuru is still to make his findings.

Gen Mujuru died in an inferno at his farm in Beatrice in August last year.

Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana yesterday said he had not yet received the magistrate’s findings.

According to the Inquest Act, the magistrate goes through the record of proceedings and makes findings and possibly recommendations before forwarding the papers to the AG.

The AG will then consider the matter and if he is satisfied by the magistrate’s findings, he then releases the verdict.

Recently, the Mujuru family lawyer Mr Thakor Kewada of Scanlen and Holderness wrote a letter to the AG requesting a copy of the verdict as an interested party after making consideration of the magistrate’s outcome.

Mr Kewada yesterday confirmed writing the letter, saying the Mujuru family was an interested party and should get a copy of the verdict.

“It is now five weeks after the completion of the inquest. I feel it is reasonable time in which a magistrate should have finished with the matter.

“So I wrote to the AG who is supposed to consider the matter after getting findings and recommendations from the magistrate.

“I am requesting to be given a copy of the outcome whenever the AG is done with his considerations. I wrote the letter a few days ago on behalf of the Mujuru family and I am still waiting for the response.

“We are an interested party and we hope the AG will give us a copy,” said Mr Kewada.

The inquest was meant to establish the correct identity of the deceased, how, when and where the deceased came to his death.

The magistrate does not find anyone guilty or innocent in an inquest.

Harare regional magistrate Mr Walter Chikwanha presided over the case that ran from mid January to early February this year.