ZimEye can reveal the Tongogara family has taken a stand to build their video presentation which will be the first ever investigate on the late gen Josiah Tongogara’s sudden death on the 26th December 1979.
Gen Tongogara was the second most powerful person in the ZANLA guerrilla movement next to Robert Mugabe and he is seen in iconic pictures standing aside the only two heads of states since 1980, Mugabe and Emmerson Mnangagwa.
On Wednesday, Muchinguri-Kashiri revealed that she was with Gen Tongogara in the same vehicle when he died in the accident, which occurred in Massinga District, Inhambane Province, Mozambique, on December 26, 1979 soon after the Lancaster House Agreement which gave birth to independent Zimbabwe.
Muchinguri narrated details she said she has kept a secret on former president Robert Mugabe’s orders. Also speaking was Lt-Gen Chimonyo who said he was the first to open the vehicle after the accident.
She dismissed claims that she killed Gen Tongogara, saying there was nothing sinister about the accident.
Claims that Gen Tongogara was killed by fellow party members were escalated by the CIA through a briefing on December 28, 1979 and Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith who wrote in his memoirs that “Tongogara’s own people killed him”.
In an interview with ZBC News, Gen Tongogara’s widow, Senator Angeline Tongogara said such information will help bring closure to the narrative.
She said she was happy that the key witnesses had made revelations on what transpired on the fateful day.
“Yaingova yekunzi, aaah vakaita accident, aaah vakaita accident asi kuti unyatsowana kuti tsanangudzo yacho yekuti accident yacho yakambofamba seiko, zvigagozodini zvigagozodini,” she said.
Sen Tongogara paid tribute to the new Government for efforts made so far in honouring Gen Tongogara. Gen Tongo’s children — Hondo, Tichafa, Bvumai and Nyaradzo — said they never had a chance to be with their father during the liberation struggle, adding that the revelations made gave them an opportunity to appreciate their father better.
They said the revelations made were very informative.
Bvumai said: “They kind of shed light on how our father passed on and everything. I think it was very informative.”
Meanwhile, sources inside the family have told ZimEye they will be rolling out their doocumentary soon. “We are now assembling the documentary after her (Muchinguri’s) statement,” they told ZimEye.