A SERVING member of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) claimed he had information about the flopped plot to assassinate President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The President, his deputies Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, Zanu-PF chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and other party leaders escaped with various degrees of injuries when an explosion rocked their VIP side of a rally at White City in Bulawayo on 23 July 2018.
At least 45 people including Mohadi, Muchinguri-Kashiri, former Zanu PF national commissar Engelbert Rugeje, Chiwenga’s estranged wife, Marry, to name a few, were injured in the explosion, widely believed to have been targeted at President Mnangagwa.
Some members of the security details died from the blast. The President escaped unhurt in the incident which occurred less than a year after he had succeeded Robert Mugabe following a popular military coup.
As investigators searched for answers and culprits to arrest, an army official stepped forward and claimed he had information about the botched assassination, a claim which led to his incarceration till today.
In a matter that has all along been kept under wraps from the public, court documents obtained by The Standard newspaper now show that Tendai Kandima, an ex-corporal and Special Forces (SAS) training dropout, was convicted for thw incident by a military court martial in February 2019.
This was after Kandima alleged confessed he was behind the attack. After the confession, Kandima says he was detained at an unknown remote location and denied access to proper legal services.
But the matter is taking a completely different turn with evidence now indicating that Kandima was actually in India seeking medical treatment on the day the attack happened.
Kandima says he confessed to knowing about the assassinate attempt after he came across a message from one Kerina Mujati offering £1,000 for anyone with information about the incident. According to social media records, Mujati is a UK-based Zimbabwean political activist.
Mujati allegedly posted the message in a WhatsApp group, and Kandima was arrested after being lured to collect the prize money. Three years later, he is still being held at an unknown location.
In court papers, Kandima says he falsely claimed knowing about the flopped assassination because he wanted the money for his chronic heart treatment which had been draining him financially.
“The accused… has made his falsehoods as highlighted on the charge after the said lady as mentioned had promised to give him £1000.
“So the accused member thought this would be the chance to have that money not knowing that he is committing a crime,” the court papers read.
“So all these falsehoods were peddled just because he was promised.
“The accused had no capacity whatsoever to conduct the said allegations in that charge.”
Kandima also said he was not afforded a fair trial as he revealed how he was denied access to legal representation and communication to the outside world before trial.
“The appellant was not afforded a right to a fair trial as envisaged above. He was only furnished with the trial papers in advance of the trial proceedings, but the appellant was detained at some remote area until the trial and with no one to communicate with,” the court papers read.
“The conviction is, therefore, bad at law as it is clearly a violation of the applicants right to a fair trial.”
He also said the conduct of defence counsel he was provided with was suspicious as the latter did not take his instructions, but acted in a manner that resulted in his conviction.
“The facts of his case show gross irregularity in that the applicant was appointed a defence officer, who acted prejudicially to the client by conducting the trial without taking adequate instruction from the appellant.
“For such a serious case, the defense officer was ill equipped to adequately represent the appellant.
“For such a serious case, the defense officer was ill equipped to adequately represent the appellant.
“It follows that the appellant was as good as unrepresented accused as his legal practitioner acted prejudicial to his interest or an instruction that was not the appellant’s.”
It also emerged that Chief Justice Luke Malaba in January appointed appeal judges to hear his case, but the matter has mysteriously not been brought to court.
“Sometime in January, the registrar communicated with the applicant’s legal practitioners of record that the chief justice had appointed judges to the court martials appeal court.
“Despite the delay, since the noting of the appeal, and the subsequent appointment of the court martial’s appeal, the applicant is still suffering injustice by serving a sentence.”
Reports said the grenade ricocheted off a tent rope and Mnangagwa in a BBC interview days after the attack blamed the G40 Faction in Zanu PF.
“I think this is a political action by some persons aggrieved by the current democratic dispensation of the country,” Mnangagwa was quoted saying at the time
“My hunch without evidence is that the people who are aggrieved about the new dispensation are the G40.”
Bomb experts from Belarus concluded that the explosive device was an offensive fragmentation grenade made in Russia and lobbed in the direction of Mnangagwa from a distance of 17-20 metres.
At an October 2020 Government event in Beitbridge, Mohadi told top Government officials that the issue was now a closed matter as the culprit, who he did not name, had been dealt with for good.
“I know people are asking when that person will be arrested. We are not interested in that. He has been dealt with and he will never be able to do that again. We are not going to arrest him. He is not going to do it again,” Mohadi said.
