BREAKING: Ex Minister Savior Kasukuwere acquitted

June 13, 2018

A Zimbabwean minister during the Robert Mugabe presidency‚ Saviour Kasukuwere‚ fled the country in November last year at the height of the military takeover. Now he has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the courts.

Kasukuwere and former ally professor Jonathan Moyo were the leading lights of Generation-40 (G40)‚ an outfit of staunch supporters of Grace Mugabe bent on blocking current president Emmerson Mnangagwa from ascending to power.

On the night of an attack on the two politicians’ homes‚ professor Moyo and his family fled to Kasukuwere’s‚ where a total of 113 cartridges were sprayed on the minister’s mansion. This was revealed in court. “Lives would have been lost if it was not God who intervened. It is by his grace that out of 113 spent cartridges not even one killed a person‚” his lawyer Jonathan Samukange argued.

Prosecutor for the state Francesca Mukumbiri put it across that it could have been robbers‚ not the military‚ as the minister had claimed. Kasukuwere’s defence countered this claim. “Roadblocks were mounted on each highway. The capital city was shut down‚ showing that everyone’s business was interrupted by the events of November 14 and 15‚” Samkange said‚ arguing that had his client stayed in the country he would have been killed.

Magistrate Josephine Sande acquitted the former minister‚ saying what he did was the best under the circumstances.

On the night of an attack on his house Ignatius Chombo‚ then-minister of finance‚ was fished from his home while youth league leader Kudzai Chipanga in captivity was to appear on television on November 15 last year‚ apologising to the top military brass. Appearing terror-stricken and wearing a jersey that later became known as the “apolo[jersery]”‚ he said he had been ill-advised and did not write the statement he issued instructing the military to leave politics to politicians.

Moyo and Kasukuwere bid farewell to Mugabe after his fall‚ using Twitter from their hideouts.

In exile Kasukuwere led a private life while his colleague Moyo has given interviews to international media and kept busy on his Twitter account – the most-followed in Zimbabwe. In his latest tweets Moyo is rallying Zimbabweans to vote in numbers and also warned that Zanu-PF is likely to rig the election.

The Mnangagwa administration is keen to get Moyo extradited with the assistance of Interpol. However‚ it is yet to meet the stringent requirements for the extradition of alleged fugitives.