The driver of the truck that killed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s wife Susan, appeared in a Chivhu court on Monday, charged with culpable homicide. Thirty-five year old Chinoona Mwanda drove the Nissan UD truck that hit Tsvangirai’s Land Cruiser. Human rights lawyer Chris Mhike will defend the driver in court and speaks to Lance Guma about what is expected to be a high profile case. Did the driver swerve to avoid a hump, or did he fall asleep while driving? Is he suicidal as reported? Mhike gives the driver’s side of the story.
Interview broadcast 12 March 2009
Lance: The controversy over the tragic car crash which claimed the life of Susan Tsvangirai continues to rage in and outside Zimbabwe . Meanwhile the driver of the truck that was involved in that particular crash appeared in a Chivhu court on Monday charged with culpable homicide. Thirty-five year old Chinoona Mwanda was the driver of the Nissan UD truck that hit Tsvangirai’s Land Cruiser causing it to overturn 3 times and landing on its roof. Human rights lawyer Chris Mhike has been hired to represent the driver and is arguing that he was not to blame for the accident, blaming instead the poor state of the road. Earlier this week I spoke to Chris Mhike who is defending the driver and asked him what happened in court?
Mhike: The initial appearance in respect of the driver who was involved in a road traffic accident with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which accident unfortunately resulted in the death of his wife. Eh when we appeared before this court, proceedings were designed to achieve at least 3 objectives. The first being for the accused person to appear formally before a court of law and be made aware of the exact charges that he is facing. So it was therefore a first appearance. But because my client had also been in custody since the date of the accident we also had to proceed to seek the restoration of his liberty through a bail application.
So the appearance was also designed for the bail application to be made. Then lastly it was a remand appearance, so that he would be remanded to a further date to enable the state to finalize matters. So this is what happened, we went ahead and made application for bail which was granted. The application for bail succeeded and it was granted on the following conditions.
Firstly that he should pay Z$100 re-valued and secondly that he should not interfere with witnesses and thirdly that he should submit his passport with the clerk of court at Chivhu Magistrates Court. And fourthly that he should report twice in a week that is every Monday and every Friday at the nearest police station where he resides. Then lastly that he resides, continues to reside at his given address until the matter is finalized. In respect of the remand his matter was remanded to 23rd March 2009 at which date we will hear how far the state has gone with investigations.
Lance: And what are the exact charges that have been preferred on your client?
Mhike: My client is facing charges of culpable homicide, that is the killing of a person as a result of negligence.
Lance: Okay and how did he plead in this case?
Mhike: The first appearance normally does not go into the plea. He was simply informed of the charge that he is facing without having to plead to the charge. So we haven’t reached that stage yet of him pleading. That will follow subsequently at subsequent hearings.
Lance: Do you think Mr. Mhike the high profile nature of this case will prejudice your client in the sense that it involves very prominent people?
Mhike: Eh well indeed, my client is a very ordinary person, a very ordinary member of society who hitherto had not been subjected to or exposed to any form of public appearances or public coverage. He is shaken firstly by the accident itself. He is deeply distressed by the fact that he was involved in this particular accident which resulted in a fatality and the injury of persons. Then of course he is very alive to the fact that he was involved in an accident where the Prime Minister and his wife and close persons were involved. That also definitely weighs in heavily on him. It has dawned on him that this has created a very prominent sort of case and he is still in a daze. He is not used to this kind of exposure. I believe that after a little while the dust will settle. He will get used to the idea that he will have to face the public. Many members of the public are very angry as a result of this accident. You will appreciate that the Prime Minister is a very popular man and his wife who is now late was also a very popular figure in Zimbabwean society. Therefore there is that recognition that there is a lot of anger. We hope that with time, the tempers will calm a little and that we can proceed with the matter without the matter being affected adversely by the emotions and by the prominence of the personalities involved.
Lance: I don’t know if you can maybe quickly help us clarify this controversy. There is a lot of controversy surrounding whether he (driver) hit a hump or a pothole and some MDC officials who visited the scene are saying that particular stretch of the road does not have any potholes. What have you been able to come up with there?
Mhike: Well I did visit the scene of the accident on Saturday the 7th of March 2009 . I visited the scene again on Sunday the 8th of March and today Monday the 9th March 2009 . There is definitely a patch of the road where the tar, the top layer of the tar did not stick properly with the immediate bottom layer and that, a mound of tar was pushed forward and it solidified on a particular section to create a hump. So I have noticed that it is not level. That portion of the accident is not level. So there is, I would confirm that I have personally observed a mound which one may describe as a hump.
Lance: We also understand there is a female passenger or there was a female passenger in Mr. Mwanda’s truck who is confirming the same?
Mhike: Indeed, indeed, there was another passenger in Mr. Mwanda’s car but her testimony is yet to be produced. That is reserved for the trial stage of the matter.
Lance: How worrying is it for you, Mr. Mhike, some reports are saying your client is suicidal, is this true?
Mhike: Well, um what I can say is that he has been deeply distressed and shaken by the accident which I believe is a normal reaction by most drivers in the aftermath of an accident. Most drivers would be shaken and in that sort of state but I would not say suicidal. I would say he has been distressed and very shaken by the accident. I would say he is out of danger. He has his brother and his wife and other family members around him now who will monitor him closely and ensure that he does not get out of control. I did point out to the magistrate that what in fact my client needs is not incarceration but perhaps some counseling services. I trust that the relatives of my client will take that up and ensure that he gets professional assistance in dealing with this most unfortunate incident.
Lance: I keep saying final question, final question and this definitely is my final question. There was some talk about him (driver) sleeping at the wheel. Eh what has he said regarding this?
Mhike: Well I did put this issue to him that there were allegations or reports that he had been sleeping on the wheel. He has flatly denied that allegation. He insists that he was very alert and he was keeping a proper lookout of the road. He maintains that the hump suddenly appeared. This mound on the road suddenly appeared without any due notice, no warning signs whatsoever prior to him hitting the hump and that any other driver probably would have been destabilized. He maintains that after hitting that hump, everything that happened thereafter was totally beyond his control.
Lance: That was human rights lawyer Chris Mhike who is defending the driver involved in the Tsvangirai car crash last Friday. Now a team of investigators immediately dispatched by the MDC on Friday evening were briefly arrested by the police and had their photographic equipment confiscated. Senior MDC official Eddie Cross told us on Monday that the two teams were sent to the site, to carry out preliminary investigations, with the first team arriving on the scene before police had gathered. The group, which included the Vice President of the Commercial Farmers Union Deon Theron, was promptly arrested.
We move on to another debating point which is why Tsvangirai never received a police escort as Prime Minister. Finance Minister Tendai Biti said the accident could have been avoided if this had been provided. No word has come from the MDC over whether they made this request. But we did speak to our correspondent Simon Muchemwa who confirmed that when Tsvangirai arrived from Botswana on Monday he travelled from the airport without any police escort. So it does look like there is widespread belief the Prime Minister might be unwilling to have a police motorcade as it is long associated with the extravagance of Mugabe’s regime.
Its interesting I’m sure most of our listeners will remember that last year police confiscated an armour plated BMW X5 vehicle that Tsvangirai was meant to use during his presidential campaigns. Now we also spoke to his former presidential spokesperson George Sibotshiwe who told us that Friday’s accident could have been averted had Tsvangirai been using that vehicle instead. We also understand from some reports, that armour plated BMW vehicle is actually parked in the sun at a Lupane police station and the colour of the vehicle is actually fading away. It does look like Prime Minister Tsvangirai has not had that vehicle returned to him.
And some are looking at the abduction and continued detention of the MDC chief of security, Chris Dhlamini. Clearly chief of security there…? Would this accident have happened if he was not in custody? All these are just debating points and in the absence of a proper investigation all this remains speculation. Of course we know Zimbabwe also has a long history of car accidents with several prominent people having died as a result, Moven Mahachi, Christopher Ushewokunze, Zororo Duri, Josiah Tongogara just before independence. There is a long list of people who have died in this particular way. So there is just cause for people to speculate.
But it’s also very important to mention in this particular case that the Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai himself has said he does not suspect any foul play and that if this was an engineered accident there is one in a thousand chance of that having happened. So all these points need to be acknowledged.
And that does it for this edition of Behind the Headlines; I do hope the interview with Chris Mhike the lawyer defending the driver involved in this accident will help to shed some light on the circumstances
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