The Financial Gazette

Tsvangirai cheats death by whisker

Brian Mangwende, News Editor

PRIME Minister Morgan Tsvangirai narrowly escaped death last month when his official all-terrain vehicle burst a rear tyre during a trip to the Matabeleland region where the premier had gone to assess the food security situation in the drought-prone area, The Financial Gazette can exclusively reveal.

The incident that has added to the political intrigues unfolding in the inclusive government, comes almost a year after yet another accident claimed the life of the Prime Minister’s wife, Susan, leaving him badly injured.
A report from the Prime Minister’s Office, leaked to The Financial Gazette, indicates that Tsvangirai’s bullet-proof Toyota Land Cruiser punctured its rear right side tyre along a dirt road 80 kilometres from Gwanda town.
His security aides swiftly moved in and bundled the former trade unionist, who was in South Africa recently for a surgical operation, into one of the Prados, leaving the driver behind and continued with their journey.
Officials in the premier’s office suspect the vehicle could have been tampered with.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai was at the time on a whirlwind trip that also touched Matabeleland North and South and the Midlands provinces to assess the impact of the drought on food security in the southern region following reports that about 2,4 million people will require food aid because of an anticipated poor harvest.
The report, in possession of this paper, claims that the spare wheel to the vehicle was damaged and it took the driver two days to take the vehicle to Harare where it is now in the hands of Zimoco — the distributor of mainly Mercedes Benz vehicles in Zimbabwe.
James Maridadi, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson, said they were still trying to come up with answers to a number of vexing questions related to the manner in which the mishap occurred.
“The Prime Minister escaped death by a whisker after the tyre burst. The first worrisome indicator on the vehicle on the day of handover to the owner was an unreasonable high mileage on the speedometer, which reflected 2 800km. How does a brand new vehicle come with such a high mileage? It has since been resolved that the Prime Minister does not use that vehicle again until it has been fully inspected and repaired or any other vehicle, for that matter, that puts his life in danger,” said Maridadi.
“The vehicle is not stable on the road even at a low speed of 120kph. The vehicle sways from one side to the other. The matter has since been taken up with the relevant security authorities.”
Impeccable sources said a report has been forwarded to the Central Intelligence Organisation, which is working on the incident.
The vehicle, according to information at hand, could be one of four VIP vehicles given to the presidency and premier’s offices in the inclusive government in 2008.
The car was, however, reportedly delivered to the Prime Minister’s residence in 2010 as a brand new vehicle.
According to Karl V Lehnardt, a German expert who imported the B6 bullet proof cars, all the state-of-the-art vehicles where delivered to State House in 2008 fitted with run flat tyres, a very low mileage and all accessories were in the cars as proved by a pre-delivery inspection report.
“But when I inspected the vehicle now, I observed the following: The boot is not opening. The spare wheel is very badly damaged and cannot be repaired. The remote control as well as the central locking system is dysfunctional.
“The run flat equipment is in the boot of the vehicle. All door hinges are loose. There is evidence that the vehicle has been used before it was delivered to the owner,” Lehnardt said.
Government, however, sources said Tsvangirai does not service his vehicles at the Central Mechanical Equipment Department as stipulated by the State.

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