17 guns recovered in Gen Mujuru’s house

While being led by Mr Clemence Chimbare of the Attorney General’s Office, he said one of the guns recovered in the bedroom was an AK47 rifle.
Asked where exactly they recovered the weapons, Chief Supt Makedenge said they were on the floor.
He said investigations showed that the weapons were in Gen Mujuru’s fixed wardrobe which was destroyed by fire.

“In total, there were 17 guns,” he said. “Except for those found on the floor, the others were in a gun cabinet which was in a room next to the main bedroom.
“The gun cabinet was badly burnt and partially open. It might have been caused to open by the heat.”
Chief Supt Makedenge said the recovered firearms, magazines and ammunition were taken to experts.

Commenting on the state of Gen Mujuru’s body, Chief Supt Makedenge said it was badly burnt and the stomach was ripped open.
He said a pathologist examined the body which was later taken to One Commando Barracks where some tissues were matched with General Mujuru’s daughter Kumbirai.
Chief Supt Makedenge said he travelled to South Africa with forensic experts where tests were done by South African Police. Earlier, the Mujuru family lawyer Mr Tekhor Kewada asked Harare Fire Brigade station officer Mr Clever Mafoti what usually happens when a fire breaks out in a house.

Mr Mafoti said if a fire breaks out when one is awake, a person would try to escape.
“If that person is awake, they will try to save themselves, however, much of the consequences would depend on the contents of the room,” he said.
“If there were, for example, a form rubber, it would produce toxic gas.”

Mr Mafoti said experience showed that one would fall down at the point which they would think to be the exit. He said the fire at the Mujuru farmhouse showed that a considerable time elapsed without the inferno being noticed.

Asked if it was normal for a body to produce a blue flame while burning, Mr Mafoti said: “I did not see the blue flame and the intensity.
“If it is general blue, what usually happens is that if the temperatures are 500 degrees Celsius some fluids ooze out of the body, thereafter fat would come out that would create a triangle of combustion which consist of air, combustible materials and the heat.

“A combination of the three items causes an ignition of fire with a blue flame.”
Mr Mafoti said if water is poured on the body which has temperatures above 500 degrees Celsius, it will boil at 100 degrees and a component of hydrogen in the water which is explosive may cause the fire to intensify. Asked by Gen Mujuru’s nephew Mr Mudiwa Mundawarara the substances which are not extinguished by water, he said they were petroleum products, fats and metals.

Mr Mafoti said the state of preparedness of the Fire Brigade during the time in question was not ideal.
He was responding to a question from presiding magistrate Mr Walter Chikwanha.

“For example, we would go to Borrowdale with 400 litres of water but we would reach the place with 100 litres because the truck (fire tender) was not in good condition and it leaked,” he said.