Court clears former Zim minister Kasukuwere

A Zimbabwean minister during the Robert Mugabe presidency‚ Saviour Kasukuwere‚ who fled the country in November at the height of the military takeover, has been cleared by the courts of any wrongdoing.

Kasukuwere and former ally Jonathan Moyo were the leading lights of Generation-40 (G40)‚ a group of staunch supporters of Grace Mugabe bent on blocking current president Emmerson Mnangagwa from ascending to power.

On the night of an attack on the two politicians’ homes‚ Moyo and his family fled to Kasukuwere’s‚ where a total of 113 bullets were sprayed at the minister’s mansion, it was revealed in court.

“Lives would have been lost if it was not God who intervened.

“It is by his grace that out of 113 spent cartridges not even one killed a person‚” Kasukuwere’s lawyer, Jonathan Samukange, said.

Prosecutor Francesca Mukumbiri said it could have been robbers‚ not the military‚ as the minister had claimed.

Kasukuwere’s defence countered this claim.

“Roadblocks were mounted on each highway.
“The capital city was shut down‚ showing that everyone’s business was interrupted by the events of November 14 and 15,” Samukange said.

Had his client stayed in the country he would have been killed, he said.

Magistrate Josephine Sande acquitted the former minister‚ saying what he did had been the best under the circumstances.

The Mnangagwa administration is keen to get Moyo extradited with the assistance of Interpol.

However‚ it is yet to meet the stringent requirements for the extradition of alleged fugitives.