Zimbabwe minister Shiri, who helped plot Mugabe ouster, dies at 65

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Zimbabwe minister Shiri, who helped plot Mugabe ouster, dies at 65

9:24 CAT | 29 Jul 2020

Photo: Masvingo Mirror

Zimbabwe’s agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, a retired general who helped plot the ouster of Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup, has died, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday.

Shiri, who commanded the air force for 25 years until he joined the government in 2017, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, two government sources said. He died in the early hours of Wednesday.

“Shiri was a true patriot, who devoted his life to the liberation, independence and service of his country,” Mnangagwa said in a statement. He did not say how Shiri died.

But domestic media said Shiri, 65, succumbed to complications from the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, which has infected 2,817 and killed 40 in Zimbabwe.

A liberation war veteran, Shiri had a chequered past. He commanded the army’s Fifth Brigade unit that carried out the 1980s massacres of thousands of civilians in western Zimbabwe as the government sought to quell an insurgency.

The army massacres, known as ‘Gukurahundi’, a Shona term meaning the ‘early rain that washes away the chaff’, remain a sore point for the people of the Matabeleland region, many of whom demand justice and reparations.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change accused Shiri of being among the security chiefs who organised violence against its members after Mugabe lost the first round of the presidential vote in 2008.

I am deeply saddened to inform the Nation of the death of the Minister of Agriculture, Air Chief Marshall (rtd) Perrance Shiri, a long time friend and colleague. Cde Shiri was a true patriot, who devoted his life to the liberation, independence and service of his country.MHRIP pic.twitter.com/r2FBeRNPpT

— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) July 29, 2020

I’m gutted to just receive news that Rtd. Air Marshal, Hon. Perrence Shiri popularly known as “Gudo Guru” during the liberation war, is no more. A true nationalist & Commander par excellence, the late Shiri was one of the hard working & effective members of Cabinet. MHDSRIEP 🙏🏿

— Hon. Temba P. Mliswa (@TembaMliswa) July 29, 2020

In 1978 Cde Prerence Shiri was the in Field Commander for Tete (North Eastern Region). He conducted this interview with the Zimbabwe News with the enemy 5km away. Even then as a young commander he was very clear what the Revolution. The interview is instructive into his thinking. pic.twitter.com/YsS0IYYd0s

— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) July 29, 2020

This is last week in Zimbabwe Parliament Perence Shiri chatting with other Mps and Ministers.Over to you #Covid19 contact tracing. pic.twitter.com/NePyYQQH0o

— Shakespear Son (@RealBeefactor) July 29, 2020

Source: Reuters