SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
Photo of the car wrecked in the accident
By Tichaona Sibanda SW Radio Africa 24 July 2014
The Business editor of the Chronicle, Mernet Mafirakureva, has died after the car he was driving collided head on with a bus near Beatrice, along the Harare to Masvingo highway. He was 33.
Innocent Madonko, the deputy editor of the Chronicle, told SW Radio Africa the tragic accident happened around 11pm on Wednesday night. Mafirakureva, who died on the spot, was driving from Bulawayo to Harare to attend a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority policy launch in the capital.
He was travelling with fellow journalist Roberta Katunga who was injured in the crash and is admitted at the Avenues clinic in Harare. Her condition has been described as stable.
While details of the crash remain sketchy it’s believed that the driver of the South African bound bus was trying to overtake another vehicle, resulting in the collision. One passenger from the bus died after the accident.
Tributes have poured in for the widely respected business scribe. Leading the tributes,his editor Mduduzi Mathuthu wrote on his Facebook page; “Recruited Mernat from NewsDay to The Chronicle. For me the best business editor in Zim, stand-up kind of guy I was proud to call a mate.”
Mathuthu added: ‘What really breaks my heart is Mernat had a loving wife and 3 kids, youngest a boy born in April. They’re now without a dad.”
Meanwhile freelance journalist Zecheaus Nemadire was on Tuesday night attacked and killed by suspected robbers in Bluffhill, Harare. The 23 year-old’s body was found about 500 metres away from his family’s home on Wednesday morning by a passer-by.
Reports said Zecheaus’s brother Tangai said a friend visited him at his workplace to tell him about a body that had been found close to their home. His identification particulars were scattered near the scene, suggesting that he had also been robbed.
Nemadire did his attachment at The Herald before joining the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society as an assistant public relations officer early this year. He was also a stringer for Zimpapers’ ZimTravel magazine. Mourners are gathered at house number 2508 Bluffhill. Burial arrangements will be announced in due course.