Retired Zimbabwean army general Solomon Mujuru attends the Zimbabwe Defence Forces day celebration in Harare in this 2009 file photo. Mujuru, 67, a key figure in internal battles over President Robert Mugabe's succession in his ZANU-PF party, died in a fire at his farmhouse. Retired Zimbabwean army general Solomon Mujuru attends the Zimbabwe Defence Forces day celebration in Harare in this 2009 file photo. Mujuru, 67, a key figure in internal battles over President Robert Mugabe's succession in his ZANU-PF party, died in a fire at his farmhouse.
HARARE: Zimbabwe's first post-independence defence chief and leader of President Robert Mugabe's guerrilla war forces, Solomon Mujuru, died in a fire at his home overnight, officials said today.
It was unclear what caused the blaze at the house of the 62-year-old retired general, husband of Vice President Joyce Mujuru, a Zanu-PF official said.
“There was a fire at his house and he died as a result of that but we do not know the cause of that fire,” party official Simon Khaya Moyo said.
Mujuru was burnt beyond recognition, Security Minister Sidney Sekeramayi said.
It was not immediately known if Joyce Mujuru was also at the house in Beatrice, south of the capital Harare.
The news of the death shocked the country's political class.
“It is a hard situation,” said a tearful Sekeramayi, confirming the death in an announcement on state television. “It was difficult to reconcile that he actually died, burnt beyond recognition.”
“One of Zimbabwe’s greatest sons is gone,” he said.
Mujuru retired from service in 1995 but remained one of the most respected figures in Zimbabwe's political and military circles, seen as the force behind his wife who was appointed vice president in 2004. -
Sapa-AFP