with
violent armed robberies almost routine, the motive behind the savage attack on
Mutsakani remains unclear.
Mutsakani’s wife Bianca, told ZimOnline that the three assailants
pounced around 9pm as he was parking his car at their house in western
Johannesburg on Monday night.
One of the three thugs without saying a word, pulled a gun and fired a
shot at Mutsakani. The bullet went through his raised elbow and ricocheted
into his chest. It ruptured his lung and remains lodged near his heart,
according to a medical report.
The three assailants fled after the attack but did not rob Mutsakani of
his possessions raising questions about the motive of the attack.
“He is in a serious but stable condition,” said Abel Chapatarongo,
Mutsakani’s deputy at ZimOnline.
“Doctors are still assessing whether they could perform surgery to
remove
the bullet but they have indicated that this was unlikely because the
bullet is lodged in a very delicate position near the heart,” said
Chapatarongo.
Chapatarongo condemned the attack on Mutsakani calling it “a shameless
act of cowardice.”
The doctors on Wednesday were due to perform surgery on Mutsakani’s
left hand that had become semi-paralysed.
No arrests have been made so far although Johannesburg police have
opened an attempted murder docket on the case.
Mutsakani was the managing editor of Zimbabwe’s best-selling daily
newspaper, The Daily News at the time of its banning in September 2003.
Before joining the Daily News, he was the managing editor of Zimbabwe’s
respected financial weekly, The Financial Gazette.
After the closure of the Daily News, Mutsakani moved to Johannesburg
where together with other Zimbabwean journalists launched ZimOnline