Solomon Mujuru, who died in a fire on August 15 aged 62 was, with his wife Joice, among the most feared members of Zimbabwe’s wealthy power elite.
Under his nom de guerre, Rex Nhongo, Mujuru led Robert Mugabe’s Zanla guerrilla forces during the war of independence which brought an end to white minority rule, and he played a crucial role in Mugabe’s rise to the top of the Zanu party. After independence he became head of the Zimbabwean Army and commanded the military for more than a decade.
He also entered parliament as MP for the north-eastern Chikomba constituency. Meanwhile his wife Joice (known as Teurai Ropa, or “Spill Blood”), has served in Mugabe’s cabinet from 1980, latterly as one of the country’s two vice-presidents.
The Mujurus used their position to build up a substantial business empire. Mujuru became one of the richest men in Zimbabwe, with a portfolio of business enterprises and 16 commercial farms. “I didn’t fight the liberation war to end up a poor man,” he once declared.
In the early 1990s, as information minister, Joice Mujuru thwarted a bid to set up Zimbabwe’s first mobile phone network in order to allow Telecel, a company part-owned by her husband, to win the franchise. Among other business interests, Mujuru was a director of the River Ranch mine, which has been accused of trading in illegal “blood diamonds” from the Congo.
Mujuru took full advantage of the government’s purge of white farmers but became the first member of Mugabe’s circle to face legal action as a consequence. In September 2001 he instigated the eviction, by a mob of “war veterans”, of Guy Watson-Smith, the owner of one of Zimbabwe’s most successful tobacco farms, 50 miles south of Harare. Watson-Smith and his wife and two children fled to South Africa . Subsequently the farm was ransacked. A ruling by Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court that the seizure of the farm was illegal made little difference. When Watson-Smith called the farm, he was threatened that, should he return, “someone is going to die here today”.
Both Mujuru and his wife were rumoured to have presidential ambitions. Although he retired from parliament in 1995, he kept his senior role in the ruling Zanu-PF party as a member of its politburo and central committee. But in recent years there were frequent reports that he had fallen out with Mugabe and other senior party members.
Solomon Mujuru was born on May 1 1949 into the same Zezuru branch of the Shona people as Robert Mugabe. During the Rhodesian Bush War, while Mugabe languished in jail from 1964 to 1974, Mujuru, with Josiah Tongogara, led Zanla guerrilla forces in Mozambique.
When Mugabe and Edgar Tekere slipped into Mozambique after their release from jail, it was Mujuru who persuaded the guerrillas, most of whom had never met Mugabe, to accept him as their leader. It seems that Mugabe’s appointment of Mujuru as head of the Zimbabwe National Army did not entirely extinguish the debt.
In 2007, amid growing signs of social unrest, Mujuru was reported to have embarked on a charm offensive among foreign ambassadors in Harare, convincing Mugabe that he was plotting to overthrow him. In an unprecedented attack clearly referring to Mujuru, Mugabe claimed that there was “an insidious dimension where ambitious leaders have been cutting deals with the British and Americans”.
At the same time the Mujurus became involved in a struggle for supremacy within Zanu-PF — against a faction led by the Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa — to determine the succession should Mugabe die or retire. Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa, a much-feared former head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), were in effect warlords, one supported by the armed forces, the other by the secret police (and by Mugabe). In late 2007 Mujuru was reported to have been put under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance after the CIO handed over a dossier to the Zimbabwean fraud squad accusing him of corruption in his business dealings.
Solomon Mujuru and his wife , whom he married in 1977 and with whom he had four children, lived in separate houses. He was reputed to have fathered children by a number of younger women. He is said to have died, along with a girlfriend, in a house fire at one of his farms, but an investigation has not so far ruled out murder.
Solomon Mujuru was born on May 1 1949 into the same Zezuru branch of the Shona people as Robert Mugabe. During the Rhodesian Bush War, while Mugabe languished in jail from 1964 to 1974, Mujuru, with Josiah Tongogara, led Zanla guerrilla forces in Mozambique.
When Mugabe and Edgar Tekere slipped into Mozambique after their release from jail, it was Mujuru who persuaded the guerrillas, most of whom had never met Mugabe, to accept him as their leader. It seems that Mugabe’s appointment of Mujuru as head of the Zimbabwe National Army did not entirely extinguish the debt.
In 2007, amid growing signs of social unrest, Mujuru was reported to have embarked on a charm offensive among foreign ambassadors in Harare, convincing Mugabe that he was plotting to overthrow him. In an unprecedented attack clearly referring to Mujuru, Mugabe claimed that there was “an insidious dimension where ambitious leaders have been cutting deals with the British and Americans”.
At the same time the Mujurus became involved in a struggle for supremacy within Zanu-PF — against a faction led by the Defence Minister, Emmerson Mnangagwa — to determine the succession should Mugabe die or retire. Both Mujuru and Mnangagwa, a much-feared former head of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), were in effect warlords, one supported by the armed forces, the other by the secret police (and by Mugabe). In late 2007 Mujuru was reported to have been put under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance after the CIO handed over a dossier to the Zimbabwean fraud squad accusing him of corruption in his business dealings.
Solomon Mujuru and his wife , whom he married in 1977 and with whom he had four children, lived in separate houses. He was reputed to have fathered children by a number of younger women. He is said to have died, along with a girlfriend, in a house fire at one of his farms, but an investigation has not so far ruled out murder.
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