Death of defence minister a blow to Mugabe

The death of Zimbabwe’s Defence Minister Moven Mahachi in a road collision at the weekend has robbed President Robert Mugabe of one of his closest confidants and a key planner of his re-election bid for the presidency next year, the ‘Star’ reported on Monday, quoting ruling party officials. Mahachi had been attending a ZANU-PF party meeting and was heading to his farm when the collision happened on Saturday. As minister of defence, Mahachi was instrumental in transforming Mugabe’s militant war veteran supporters into a reserve force of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA).

Mahachi was also made responsible for organising and coordinating the transportation of war veterans and other key supporters of Mugabe around Zimbabwe for next year’s presidential election campaign. Mugabe, who is said to be devastated by Mahachi’s death, cancelled an official trip to attend a G-15 summit in Jakarta, Indonesia. He had been due to leave for Jakarta on Sunday.

But political analyst Masipule Sithole told IRIN that although his death was clearly a blow, Mahachi did not cut a particularly powerful figure within ZANU-PF. “His passing on is not that critical for the government and for the presidential election campaign,” he said. The minister’s death came exactly 30 days after another key Mugabe loyalist, Youth and Employment Creation Minister Border Gezi, died in a car accident. Mahachi threatened to resign as minister of defence last year after he alleged that he was being sidelined on important issues involving the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).