ing party politburo declared him a national hero, that their relative was “killed by some powerful people over the issue of coup plans”.
A family member said Gunda had revealed information about how “his life was in danger from people who accused him of being involved in the coup plot”. It is alleged that Gunda, a powerful army leader, was facing arrest following information that he was working with a group alleged to have been planning to depose President Robert Mugabe.
“It is all rubbish that he was involved in an accident,” an irate family member said. “How can you have an accident involving a train but which is nowhere to be seen or accounted for. He was killed, period. He had spoken about the fears for his life just before his death. He told us some people in the army wanted to get rid of him over the coup issues.”
A senior army source, convinced that the coup was an “inside job”, said Gunda could have been killed because he knew about the coup issue, “which was created and stage-managed by Mugabe’s intelligence as a way of getting at his opponents within the regime”.
Efforts to obtain comment from defence minister, Sydney Sekeramayi were not successful. Army sources said that Gunda’s death was “merely the tip of an iceberg and that it got publicity because of his seniority, otherwise the issue of army officials dying has been happening over the past weeks on an increasing rate”.
It is reported that more than 250 members of the army have been killed over the past three months as tension in the country increased and following revelations of a real, or created, coup plot. – Itai Dzamara
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Post published in: News