Chilling Mutasa skeletons exposed

Former Finance minister Tendai Biti has lined up several witnesses who claim to have suffered at the hands of ex-Zanu-PF heavyweight Didymus Mutasa in a case where he is being sued by the politician for $8 million.

Mutasa dragged Biti to the High Court claiming the People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader accused him of killing an MDC-T activist's son.

Christpowers Maisiri (12) from Mutasa's Headlands constituency was burnt to death in 2013 after the hut he was sleeping in was set on fire by suspected Zanu-PF activists.

Biti allegedly accused the former Intelligence minister of causing the boy's death during a Cabinet meeting.

Mutasa, now a member of former vice-president Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) party, accused Biti of defamation.

Biti's defence outline contains testimonies of several MDC-T supporters who say they would prove that the former Zanu-PF Manicaland godfather was behind several cases of politically-motivated violence in the province.

Biti said he never said Mutasa killed Christpowers, but that he caused the death of the child and evidence provided by witnesses would show that he had a track record of violence.