President Emmerson Mnangagwa has reportedly ordered a consolidated investigation into a series of criminal incidents targeting his family.
This includes re-opening the probe into a grenade attack that occurred at a ZANU PF campaign rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo in 2018.
According to ZimLive, Mnangagwa is increasingly concerned for his security after several security breaches, some involving his family. A source was quoted as saying:
He wants answers from the security arms of the state, starting with unravelling what happened at White City.
On July 23, the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) released a photograph of an individual they suspect may have been involved in the 2018 grenade attack at a ZANU PF rally in Bulawayo that narrowly missed killing Mnangagwa.
However, the ZRP deceptively claimed the man was wanted for a separate fraud case involving $300,000, and offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his identification.
According to ZimLive, the man’s picture had actually been distributed to all police stations across Zimbabwe back in 2018 and 2019, but authorities were never able to positively identify him at the time.
The police also allegedly published the image in the state-run Chronicle newspaper, falsely claiming that a desperate relative was seeking the man.
Investigators reviewing video footage from various news organizations reportedly concluded that the man in the photo was a potential suspect, as the footage allegedly showed him changing his clothing, including his cap and t-shirt, around the time of the grenade attack.
The blast killed two Central Intelligence Organisation agents and wounded 47 others, including Vice President Kembo Mohadi and Defence Minister Oppah Muchinguri.
Eyewitnesses claim the grenade was thrown at the VIP tent as President Mnangagwa was exiting the stage to leave the stadium.
While it would have landed within a metre of the President, the grenade reportedly ricocheted off a tent mounting and changed direction, potentially saving Mnangagwa’s life.
Now, over five years later, Mnangagwa has ordered a consolidated investigation into this attack and other criminal incidents targeting his family.
This includes the recent July 2024 incident where his plane flying home from Mozambique was reportedly targeted by someone using lasers to blind the pilots on approach to the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
The President’s directive to re-examine the 2018 White City Stadium attack comes just days after break-ins at the private homes of Mnangagwa, his son David Kudakwashe (the Deputy Minister of Finance and Investment Promotion), and his nephew Tongai Mafidi (the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry).
In March 2024, Mnangagwa fired Airforce of Zimbabwe commander Elson Moyo after he was forced to abort a landing at Victoria Falls International Airport due to an emailed bomb scare. The threat was allegedly made by someone signing off as “John Doe.”
Following all these incidents, Mnangagwa has now ordered a special task force to be established to investigate all of these concerning events.
The assignment of this consolidated investigation has reportedly been given to detectives from the Harare Central Police Station’s Law and Order section.
They will be tasked with coordinating across various agencies in the hunt for suspects and to determine if there are any links between these diverse criminal incidents targeting the President and his family.
More: Pindula News