The death of Josiah Tongogara in 1979, narrated by Advocate Douglas Mwonzora.
– Soviet immediately charged ‘inside job.’
As chief political rival to Mr. Robert Mugabe, Gen Josiah Tongogara was favored to become the first President of Zimbabwe. Mr. Mugabe was slated to be Prime Minister. Accusations of murder began immediately following the mysterious car accident that took Tongogara’s life on the evening of December 26, 1979. A CIA intelligence briefing dated December 28, 1979 said Tongogara was a potential political rival to Mr. Mugabe because of his “… ambition, popularity and decisive style.” On the same day, the US Embassy in Zambia reported, “Almost no one in Lusaka accepts Mugabe’s assurance that Tongogara died accidentally. When the ambassador told the Soviet Ambassador the news, the surprised Soviet immediately charged ‘inside job.’” The post-mortem found three wounds on Tongogara’s upper torso, consistent with gunshot wounds. No one was prosecuted.
The most famous accident occurred in 2009 when PM Morgan Tsvangirai was injured, and his late wife Susan Tsvangirai was killed when their vehicle was violently sideswiped, causing it to flip over three times. Tom McDonald, the United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe from 1997 to 2001, said, “I’m skeptical about any motor vehicle accident in Zimbabwe involving an opposition figure… President Mugabe has a history of strange car accidents when someone lo and behold dies — it’s sort of his M.O.; of how they get rid of people they don’t like… So, when I hear that Tsvangirai was in an accident, it gives me pause.”
Later, Presidential Guard Captain Ibrahim Chasakara admitted that he had been responsible for the car accident that claimed the life of Susan Tsvangirai. Weeping, Chasakara begged forgiveness from the PM, his family and all Zimbabweans.
In June 2013, Former Mines Minister and Zanu PF MP, Edward Takaruza Chindori-Chininga died in a car crash. A week prior to the accident, Mr. Chininga released a damning report about the involvement of ZANU-PF officials and allies in the diamond industry. In what was one of the sloppier cover-ups our country has seen, State media reported Mr. Chininga failed to stop at a T-intersection, ramming head on into a tree. However, there are no nearby trees at that junction where the accident reportedly occurred. The head-on crash killed Mr. Chininga, despite not being forcible enough to deploy the car’s airbags or even crack the windshield. Additionally, two other passengers in the car walked away with minor injuries and never spoke to media. In a final affront to his legacy, Zanu-PF’s supreme decision-making body, the politburo, turned down a request to declare Mr. Chininga a national hero.