Strover Mutonhori

Strover Mutonhori was a Zimbabwean and a former Lutheran World Federation employee. Mutonhori went missing on the 1st of March 1999 and his decomposing body found on the 17th of August at the Whitewaters Range in Matopos.

Background

Children

Mutonhori had three children. He had one son named Ian Tatenda Mutonhori who was his firstborn. He had two daughters Tracey and Tecla who were second and third born respectively.^[1]

Alleged Affair With Mohadi's Wife

Mutonhori worked with Kembo Mohadi’s wife Tambudzani and according to family sources the two allegedly had an affair. Mutonhori disappeared from the Omadu Hotel in Kezi on 1 March 1999, only for his remains to be found in Mzingwane outside Bulawayo on 17 August 1999.

In May 2001 a team of police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) travelled to South Africa and interviewed a number of people in connection with the murder.

The matter was transferred from Matabeleland South Province to the Special Investigating Branch at the Police General Headquarters in Harare. The officer investigating was identified as Chief Superintendent C. R. Gora.

Although police finally interviewed Mohadi, who was then Deputy Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, he was later promoted to Home Affairs Minister in 2002.

This effectively put a stop to any chance of a proper investigation, since the police fell under his Ministry. In January 2007 Mutonhori's family sought the intervention of the Attorney General and the President’s Office to try and open up investigations into the murder case. But it was reported that the docket had disappeared and the evidence tampered with.

Jane Dongo, a family member of Mutonhori's, told a publication that Mohadi wrote a letter to Mutonhori asking to meet him at the Ambassador Hotel in Harare. Mohadi did not state why he wanted the meeting but offered to take him back home at the end of it. Dongo said:

“It was the last week of February, that is 1999 when Mutonhori had come to Harare when he was off-duty and I remember very well, according to that letter because the letter was written by Kembo Mohadi. He cannot deny it, he wrote it in his own handwriting. If it was going to be proved, his handwriting, the authenticity of the handwriting, I’m quite sure and he signed it “KB”; Kembo Mohadi signed that letter."

Mutonhori is said to have declined to meet Mohadi. It is believed that Mohadi was following up on allegations that Mutonhori was having an affair with his then-wife, Tambudzani.

Mutonhori and Tambudzani worked together in Mberengwa. Dongo said the family are in possession of a letter written by Tambudzani to Mutonhori. In the letter, Mohadi's now ex-wife only discusses the degree program the two were doing at the time.

Because Mutonhori declined to meet Mohadi the family believe that a further plot was hatched to set him up for the kidnapping several days later.

Dongo said Mutonhori was not supposed to be at work on the day he was kidnapped but was called and told to attend a workshop at the Omadu Hotel in Kezi.

Mutonhori played soccer that night and around 9pm went to his room. Dongo said delegates to the workshop were booked into rooms in pairs but somebody tampered with the arrangement and gave Mutonhori his own room to ensure he was alone. Mutonhori was told that the person booked in the room with him was no longer coming since they lived in Bulawayo and would come to the workshop the following day.

Dongo said the bed in Mutonhori's room was never slept in on the night.^[2]

Death

Mutonhori went missing on 1 March 1999 and his decomposing body was only found on the 17th of August 1999 at the Whitewaters Range in Matopos.

Mutonhori’s wife was able to identify his remains by counting the number of teeth he had in the upper jaw. She only identified those bones with one tooth which was missing and a belt which he was wearing on that particular day.^[2]