Zimbabwe opens inquest into ex-army chief's death

Zimbabwe on Monday opened a court inquest into the death of former army chief Solomon Mujuru, who was killed last year in a mysterious inferno, in a case that has roiled President Robert Mugabe's party.

He died in August in a fire at his farmhouse in Beatrice, south of Harare, deepening the divide within Mugabe's ZANU-PF party where the general's wife, Vice President Joice Mujuru leads a faction perceived as a more moderate wing of ZANU-PF.

Police have already finished their investigation, but then took the rare step of requesting a court inquest into his death after some, including his wife, queried how he could have failed to escape through the farmhouse's low-level windows.

The inquest began by looking into speculation that Mujuru was too drunk to make it out a window, with a string of witnesses testifying that he was sober.

A barmaid at a Beatrice motel, where Mujuru was a regular patron, said the former leader of Zimbabwe's liberation fighters had stopped in on his way home but had little to drink.

"He was not drunk," barmaid Portia Kamvura told the packed courtroom. "He left around 7:00 pm saying he did not want to drink much as he had a journey to make the following morning."

Fellow Beatrice farmer Blessing Madzivire said there had been a power outage on the day Mujuru died, and that the general was sober when Madzivire last saw him.

Joice Mujuru and two of her daughters attended the hearing where 10 witnesses are expected to testify, as well as local police and independent forensic experts from neighbouring South Africa.

Prosecutors said findings by local experts showed that no inflammable substance was used to start the fire while South African forensic investigators said there was no evidence of explosives.

Mujuru, also known by his war name Rex Nhongo, was widely seen as a kingmaker in Mugabe's party.

The general's brother Joel Mujuru said last year that he believed the death was a murder.

Mujuru, also known by his war name Rex Nhongo, was respected across Zimbabwe's political divide and widely seen as a kingmaker in Mugabe's party.

Mujuru also had major business interests, including diamond mining.

At age 62, he remained an influential member of the ruling ZANU-PF, in a context of rivalries and tensions after the violent and inconclusive presidential elections in 2008.

Those polls led the country into a power-sharing government. During the unrest, Mujuru made known his opposition to violence against political opponents.

Hailed as a national hero, Mujuru used his influence among freedom fighters to persuade his peers to accept Mugabe as their leader in 1976, according to his colleagues from the liberation struggle.

He was seen as the only one in the current crop of politicians who could speak his mind and criticise Mugabe to his face.

He was linked to the "softer" faction of the ZANU-PF party, headed by his wife.

Family lawyer Thakor Kewada complained that prosecutors had withheld witnesses' affidavits from him and learnt about some of the evidence during the court enquiry.