By A Correspondent| Fears for ZANU PF’s former National Commissar, Gen Engelbert Rugeje rose early Friday afternoon when his phone remained switched off, just after rumours floated claiming that he has been involved in a car accident. A church Facebook account first flighted the reports which claim he has been admitted at Silveira Hospital near Masvingo.
The fears have continued from the time Rugeje was removed from his National Commissar post last week. The NPC post “burns everyone” and even the former NPC (Mugabe days), Saviour Kasukuwere is still lurking in fear 2 years after his removal on 2017.
But his Personal Assistant, Everisto Dika told ZimEye there is no truth at all in the accident rumours.
He said, “Lies, true lies, there is nothing like that there are a lot of people who have phoned me. There is nothing like that. He is safe,” he told ZimEye.
When asked about Rugeje’s whereabouts, he refused to be drawn into disclosing his exact location only saying, “he is out of Harare, but not in Masvingo.
“It is his home area of course, but he is not anywhere near that place. Usually, stories of this nature involving our leaders they(people) want to cause confusion and panic, to throw unnecessary confusion and panic,” he added.
Meanwhile, the fears for Rugeje are not new, they stem from the fact that since independence, every political commissar has suffered either an assassination, or a humiliating ouster. The list of victims includes:
Mayor Urimbo,
Maurice Nyagumbo,
Movern Mahachi,
Border Gezi,
Elliot Manyika,
Webster Shamu,
Saviour Kasukuwere,
Engelbert Rugeje.
2001 Border Gezi
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BORDER GEZI: Gezi had been a rising star in Zanu PF, rising to governor and then Youth minister before his death in a car crash on April 28 2001. Gezi died when his driver lost control of his ministerial vehicle, although an inquest later blamed two senior officials from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department for negligence in fitting a defective tyre to his car.
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2001 Moven Mahachi
MOVEN MAHACHI: The Defence minister died barely a month after the death of Gezi, raising questions whether the accident that claimed his life had been a genuine one. Mahachi was killed on May 26, 2001 when his Range Rover collided with a small car along the Mutare –
Nyanga Road.