News / National
Mujuru 'snubbed' Midzi burial
17 Jun 2015 at 06:33hrs | Views
FORMER Vice-President Joice Mujuru and senior members of her faction were "too committed" to attend the burial of former Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairman and ex-Energy minister Amos Midzi last Saturday.
Most top officials of the Mujuru camp, among them former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and expelled information chief Rugare Gumbo, were conspicuous by their absence at Glen Forest Cemetery where Midzi was laid to rest.
Gumbo, who has emerged as spokesperson of a political outfit now going by the moniker "People First" that is coaxing Mujuru to lead it and confront the might of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF ahead of the 2018 elections, yesterday said there was nothing sinister about their absence.
"We paid our condolences to the Midzi family. We respected him (Amos Midzi) as a colleague and committed cadre, but we could not attend the burial because of commitments that could not be postponed," Gumbo said.
Gumbo was, however, evasive on whether the said commitments had anything to do with plans to form a new political party.
Midzi was found dead in his car last week at his farm just outside Harare days after being demoted to an ordinary card-carrying member by the Zanu-PF politburo in the ongoing brutal purge of senior leaders seen as having been sympathetic to Mujuru.
Postmortem results indicated that he died of suspected poisoning.
Zanu-PF denied Midzi a hero status, but offered a State-assisted funeral.
Most top officials of the Mujuru camp, among them former Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and expelled information chief Rugare Gumbo, were conspicuous by their absence at Glen Forest Cemetery where Midzi was laid to rest.
Gumbo, who has emerged as spokesperson of a political outfit now going by the moniker "People First" that is coaxing Mujuru to lead it and confront the might of President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF ahead of the 2018 elections, yesterday said there was nothing sinister about their absence.
"We paid our condolences to the Midzi family. We respected him (Amos Midzi) as a colleague and committed cadre, but we could not attend the burial because of commitments that could not be postponed," Gumbo said.
Midzi was found dead in his car last week at his farm just outside Harare days after being demoted to an ordinary card-carrying member by the Zanu-PF politburo in the ongoing brutal purge of senior leaders seen as having been sympathetic to Mujuru.
Postmortem results indicated that he died of suspected poisoning.
Zanu-PF denied Midzi a hero status, but offered a State-assisted funeral.
Source - newsday
