IT IS now exactly a week after prominent businessman Douglas Tawanda Munatsi, 59, died after a mysterious fire broke out in his opulent apartment in the capital.
It is also a day after his remains were interred at Greendale Cemetery in Harare with questions still lingering among his family, business associates, friends and concerned citizens on how the businessman faced his demise on the fateful day.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa described circumstances leading to the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agents chief executive officer’s death as uncertain and called the police to thoroughly investigate what happened and bring it to the public glare.
Family and colleagues believe it was a hit, he was murdered, and who can fault them in thinking like that.
He died in almost similar circumstances to those of the late former Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Solomon Mujuru, especially when one looks at what folded in the country a few years later — a military putsch.
In Mujuru’s case an inquest was instituted and it adjudged he perished in the inferno — a finding his family and most Zimbabweans didn’t believe and have since rejected.
It is incumbent upon the police to thoroughly investigate the death of Munatsi. There are a lot of grey matters in how the businessman faced his demise on Monday morning. He should not have perished like that. It defies logic. It is difficult to comprehend. His compatriots cannot stomach the nonsense
Several questions must be asked at an appropriate forum, an investigative one!.
Why didn’t Munatsi escape from the apartment when their fire broke out?
Was the apartment not accessible by fellow tenants?
Is it not that in case a fire breaks out, the fire brigade’s first mission is evacuation? Why was he not evacuated?
Let’s assume Munatsi tried to douse the fire alone, why was he found dead in a sitting position? These and many questions must be answered by the police inquiry.
If the police fail to unravel what befall Munatsi, then a proper inquest must be instituted to answer the varied questions.
As a nation, we should be in a position to answer and demystify theories about our departed leaders in politics, businesses and other spheres of life.
May Doug Tawanda Munatsi rest in eternal peace!