Solomon Mujuru's children struggle

GUARDIANS of two children fathered by the late retired army general Solomon Mujuru with a Harare woman, have claimed that the delay in distributing his estate has left them struggling to provide for them.

Mujuru died in a mysterious inferno at his farm in Beatrice in 2011, but his estate, believed to be worth millions of dollars, remains undistributed owing to reported serious infighting among family members.

In an interview with NewsDay from London yesterday, Christian Mahachi, brother of Simbiso Chisirimunhu who died in 2011, said no assistance had been proffered to them since Mujuru's death, to raise the late army general's children who are still in college.

Mujuru and Chisirimunhu had two children, Tawanda Ruzambu Mujuru (19) and Tsitsi Mujuru (20).

Tawanda, who shared his middle name with his late father, is at Leicester College in the United Kingdom where he is doing his "A" Level studies, while Tsitsi is studying Mass Communication at Surrey University in the same country.

"These children are still at college and they naturally need to be taken care of. Support for them stopped immediately after their father's death and we are using our own meagre resources to ensure they go to college. This is very unfortunate for children of someone like (the late) General Mujuru," Mahachi said.

He said efforts to engage Vice-President Joice Mujuru for assistance had hit a brick wall.

"I have pursued all avenues possible to talk to her, but without success. When I went to her office just after my sister's death in 2011, I was referred to the family lawyer Thakor Kewada who in turn referred me to the VP's eldest daughter Kumbirai. At first, Kumbirai appeared co-operative, but later became unreachable as she changed her mobile number," Mahachi said.

Contacted for comment, the late retired general's elder brother Joel refused to shed light on the latest position regarding Mujuru's estate and invited NewsDay to his farm in Goromonzi.

"I suggest you come down here so that we can talk about this issue," the elder Mujuru said.

The family lawyer Kewada also refused to give details.

"At the moment, I cannot say much on this case as I am still waiting for the will to be brought to me so that we can start the process," he said.

Mujuru's eldest children Kumbirai, Nyasha and Chipo were also not reachable on phone.

The late retired general was Zimbabwe's most decorated army chief and widely perceived to be the kingmaker in Zanu PF's intricate succession battles.

Mujuru, who made his wealth using his vast political network, had interests in sectors like agriculture, stock and money markets, construction and mining, among others.