An obituary

The late Dennis Murira, to many in the MDC family would be distinctly remembered for being part of the group that wanted to usurp that party’s leadership on the eve of the late Morgan Tsvangirai’s treason trial and for his strong loathing of the Ndebele people.

Those old enough to remember, will recall that Murira was part of the late MDC National Chairman Isaac Matongo well knit group that strongly believed the late MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai would be convicted, leaving a leadership vacuum which in their view could not be filled by a Ndebele person contrary to the MDC party’s constitutional provisions.

Their argument was that even if the Vice President, the late Gibson Sibanda was to take over, the fact that he stayed in Bulawayo, the effective job of the president would fall into the hands of Prof Welshman Ncube.

This imagination frightened them because for a long time, they had been working on a programme to eliminate the Prof Ncube and those deemed as his surrogates. The group went on to distribute leadership positions among themselves in readiness to take control of the party as soon as Tsvangirai was convicted as follows;

President                    Mr Isaac Matongo

Vice President           Mr Gandi Mudzingwa

National Chairman    Mrs Lucia Matibenga

Secretary General      Mr Dennis Murira

Treasurer General      Mr Ian Makoni.

So serious was the group’s agenda that two days before Tsvangirai’s treason verdict trial, Matongo’s group fronted by Murira mobilised about 100 youths to carry out vicious attack on the late Renson Gasela and Prof Ncube and take control of Harvest House.

In doing so, the group pretended to be Tsvangirai’s loyalists who would play a caretaker role and ensure that his position as leader of the party was guaranteed when he came out of jail but in reality they were doing it for their selfish interest.

When Tsvangirai walked a free man, the plan was thrown into tatters.

At that time, Matongo also stood accused of making extremely reckless anti-Ndebele statements with far reaching consequences for party instability.

I also remember Mrs Lucia Matibenga telling an informant that former MDC Director Security, Peter Guhu, was a sell-out, selling the party to the Ndebele.

Murira would also be remembered for having created the VanGuard, a vigilante group of 25 primarily to coordinate MDC proposed Mass Action activities but later mutated into a reliable source of force or militia for use in power struggles by the Matongo led camp.

All directors who were anti-Matongo suffered at the hands of the rogue group one way or the other.

Murira knew more about the group of 25 than anyone else. For instance, he argued that despite their criminal conduct, they must be retained amidst growing suspicions that the group did not exist in order to provide security but to be used to mete out punishment to those accused selling out the party.

I remember at one point, Zwakele Sayi saying that Murira vowed “never to recognise Prof Ncube as the SG of the MDC party.”

Sayi added: “Murira does what he wants especially those things that have personal value accruing to him such as enriching himself. He sees personal glory being the main motivation for anyone to do party work.

“He is close to the donors and brags that he does not depend on his salary alone and there is evidence in that he recently bought a car which most of us at the same grade can never dream of. He does not account for most of the money which he gets for specific programs.”

That’s the Murira I know. May his dear soul rest in peace.