(Harare)The Inquest into the death of the retired General Solomon Mujuru has not ended at all as some private media reported, and on Friday (yesterday) his widow Joice, together with the family pushed an urgent application for the exhumation of the General’s remains, after it was revealed the Cuban pathologist who signed off the General’s body for burial is not even registered in the country and also that he performed a hurried inspection as he avoided vital tests needed to determine the real cause of death.
The atmosphere was tense yesterday Friday as the Mujuru family lawyer, Thakor Kewada, moved a firm request against the judge arguing for the late General’s exhumation.
The Mujuru family-hired South African pathologist Reggie Perumal stated that the Zimbabwe-government employed Cuban forensic pathologist Gabriel Alvero Gonzalez failed to conduct an proper standard autopsy.
Kewada demanded before magistrate Walter Chikwanha that the only way Perumal would be able to determine the real cause of Mujurus death was to have the remains exhumed:
“I think if we are to get to the bottom of this matter and get to know the truth, we must cross every hurdle that has to be crossed.
I do not know why this pathologist was called, my information is that he is not registered here in Zimbabwe and his name does not appear on the registered medical practitioners list” he said.
Kewada said a different forensic outcome was highly likely if an alternative pathologist was used since the Cuban national had not followed standard methods.
“I believe he should give evidence but most importantly after examining the body and conducting a proper autopsy which is in line with the internationally-recognised standards which was not done by Alvero Gonzalez”, Kewada said.
This week it was revealed that the state employed Cuban pathologist, Alvero Gonzalez who stated his findings were that Mujuru was alive when the fire started, did not perform adequate standard tests.
He said that the tracheal mucosa (lining of the body cavities that produce mucus) was red and black inside demonstrating that the deceased was alive when the fire started.  The lungs were severely burnt and could not be recognised. The stomach was burnt and absent and also the pancreas, liver and gall bladder were severely burnt and charred, he said.
However Gonzalez also said that he did not examine the late General’s skull because it was badly burnt, but took a closer look at some parts of the body and noticed a ring on the Generals finger, which was never found. At this time Mujuru lawyer Kewada had asked him why he had not examined the brains since in cases of fire the person’s brain remains gave the best results indications on the cause of death.
“I could not examine the brains because they had been burnt given the intensity of the fire.  The first challenge we had was that we did not have enough instruments, those we normally use, to carry out proper examination, Gonzalez said,” he said.
After Friday’s hearing, Kewada later told to journalists outside the court room that they were now going to take advantage of failure by the state pathologist to establish the cause of his client’s death and so would now apply for the exhumation of the deceased’s body for their independent pathologist Reggie Perumel would make a fresh post-mortem before giving evidence.
“For our pathologist to give practical and credible evidence we strongly believe that an exhumation of the body should be done. An examination should be done properly and thoroughly according to international standards for him not to give theoretical evidence.
Early this week at the inquest’s presiding magistrate Walter Chikwanha put on hold an application by the family of the late Solomon Mujuru which had requested to invite an independent pathologist.
Chikwana who on Monday said was going to consider the application after the testimony of the Cuban pathologist Friday said will make the ruling next week Monday when the inquest resumes.
Earlier in the week, Zimbabwe Republic police Director of the Forensic Science laboratory Bethwell Mutandiro, and a South African Police Services Pretoria expert Klogtlakogmang Ariel Lenong, all told the court that they could not establish the root cause of either the fire or death of the deceased
“When we conducted the body examination at 1 Commando Barracks we observed that the trachea of the deceased had some dark mucus symbolising that he had swallowed some gasses. This also confirms that he swallowed these gases well before his death. This observation does not conclusively confirm that he was indeed killed by these gases.
“One of the challenges we encountered was that we could not take a blood sample from the deceased because his body had been badly burnt to the extent of becoming stiff. We also discovered that some important body parts which could have given us results of his death cause were missing as a result of the intense fire,” Cuban pathologist Gonzalez who examined the body of the late retired Army boss Solomon Mujuru told the court Friday in the ongoing inquest into the death of the retired Army Chief.
The Cuban pathologist also said they did not have enough laboratory equipment of carrying out the operation when they got to the scene of the sad incident.
However the Mujuru hired pathologist Perumel soon left the courts in a hurry before making a personal statement of intention that he was willing to go ahead with an exhumation.
As many questions remain unanswered amid revelations the fire seen in Mujuru’s farm house was not of candle origin as had been earlier claimed by the Police, it is believed the inquest will resume in the upcoming few weeks following an announcement by magistrate Chikwana (ZimEye/ Additional Reporting RadioVop)