The trial of an ex-soldier accused of plotting to assassinate President Robert Mugabe finally began on Tuesday in Mutare city, with a Zimbabwe army major drawing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party into the matter, claiming it was behind the plan to kill the president.
Peter Michael Hitschmann, a soldier in the former white government of Rhodesia — Zimbabwe’s name before independence in 1980 — is being charged with violating the Public Order and Security Act (POSA that outlaws possession of weapons for the purpose of committing banditry, insurgency, sabotage or terrorism.
His trial failed to kick off on two previous occasions in the past two weeks after the state produced fresh weapons and ammunition as exhibits but which defence lawyers said were unknown to their client.
But the defence later relented, allowing submission of the new weaponry as exhibits to open the way for the trial to begin before High Court Judge Alfas Chitakunye.
Zimbabwe army Major Israel Phiri, testifying for the state, told a packed courtroom that Hitschmann approached him with the intention of enlisting him into the Zimbabwe Freedom Movement (ZFM), a shadowy outfit that the state claims is out to overthrow the government.
Phiri said Hitschmann sent a short message on his mobile phone requesting that the two meet in Mutare city.
”I queried why a white man, who did not want to disclose his name, wanted to see me,” Phiri told the court.
The army said he became suspicious and immediately advised his superiors at the Zimbabwe Defence Forces headquarters.
Phiri said he met Hitschmann, first at a Holiday Inn hotel in the city centre and later at Cecil Kopje game conservancy overlooking the city, only after his commanders had given him the go-ahead to do so.
The army major claimed that Hitschmann told him that he was working for a military group aligned to the MDC and that wanted to overthrow the government through military means because the political wing of the opposition party had failed to do so through the ballot.
The MDC has denied it has a military wing or that it is related to the ZFM. The opposition party also says it has no intentions of removing the government through military means.
Phiri said Hitschmann told him that the operation would not be a prolonged military campaign but a ”hard-hitting commando-like operation” to decapitate the ruling Zanu-PF party and government by murdering Mugabe and other key figures of his government and party.
The major, who said he was promised $500 per month for his cooperation and also a Mozambican visa to enable him to flee the country should the assassination plot flop, said he subsequently met Hitschmann on several occasions, during which he was told that funds to finance the plot would come from an unnamed source in Britain.
The trial continues on Wednesday with Phiri giving more evidence for the state.
Hitschmann was initially arrested in March together with MDC officials, who included Mutare North legislator Giles Mutsekwa.
The group was accused of conspiring to murder Mugabe, businessman and Zanu-PF activist Esau Mupfumi and Zanu-PF Chipinge South legislator Enock Porusingazi.
The state later dropped charges against Mutsekwa, MDC Manicaland provincial youth chairperson Knowledge Nyamhoka, party treasurer Brian James, activist Thando Sibanda and four ex-police officers Peter Nzungu, Wellington Tsuro, Jerry Maguta and Garikai Chikutya. — ZimOnline