Solomon Mujuru

It was generally thought that Mujuru had a tremendous amount of influence on who would lead ZANU-PF and the country.[4] He was the only person believed to have had the stature to challenge Mugabe during party meetings.[5] Newspaper reports claimed Mujuru had been under house arrest and 24-hour surveillance between 2007 and 2008 for his role in attempting to oust Mugabe.[6][7] However, he remained an influential member of the ruling ZANU-PF politburo and central committees.[4] Mujuru and his wife were among the ZANU-PF party members subject to personal sanctions imposed by the United States.

Mujuru was a successful businessman and commercial farmer, who both advocated and benefitted from indigenisation and black economic empowerment in Zimbabwe. He had diverse business ventures,[4] which included mining, agriculture, transport, tourism and investment in the construction industry. In the mid-1990s Mujuru clashed with Emmerson Mnangagwa, long considered Mugabe's favoured heir, when Solomon bid to buy into the multibillion-dollar Zimasco, a chrome mining and smelting concern in Zimbabwe's Midlands Province.[8]

Popular speculation is that Mujuru owned anywhere between six and sixteen farms, including Alamein Farm, seized from Guy Watson-Smith during the fast-track land reform in 2001.[9] His seizure of Alamein Farm was at the time ruled illegal by the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe.[10][11]

Mujuru farmed with tobacco, maize and game at Alamein Farm.[12] Farm workers also produced their own tobacco on land allocated to them.[13]

Solomon Mujuru died in a fire in the early hours of the night of 15 August 2011, at the homestead of Alamein Farm,[14] in circumstances that many commentators suggest were suspicious.[15][16]

He had stopped at the Beatrice Hotel, 60 km south-west of Harare, where he had drunk and chatted with patrons; he was having an early night before a long journey the next day. A maid and guard at the farm testified they heard gunshots two hours before flames were seen at his farmhouse. Mujuru had left groceries and his cell phone in his car, something he had never done before. The general had taken 40 minutes to drive from the hotel to his farm, a journey of 10 minutes.[17] The lone policeman was asleep at the time, and after he awoke, he had no airtime, and the radio was broken. When the firetruck arrived it had no water.[5]

An inquiry was opened.[5] The coroner investigating Mujuru's death concluded he had died of smoke inhalation, but Mujuru's family lacks confidence in the coroner's findings. They plan to petition for approval to exhume Mujuru's remains and have them independently examined by a doctor of their own choice. Mujuru's remains are located at Heroes Acre, a memorial in Zimbabwe.[18]