AN assassin was allegedly hired to track and kill Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga for unknown reasons amid deepening factional wars in Zanu PF over President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s succession.
The assassination plot allegations were revealed in a classified document marked Top Secret, which is believed to have originated from the United States government.
It claims that a Belarusian-linked “contract asset codenamed BEDROCK” was hired to assassinate Chiwenga, who was referred to in the document by his liberation-war name Dominic Chinenge.
Stamped “URGENT” and bearing a consular receipt mark, the report describes Chinenge as “an astute Zimbabwean national and general . . . shadow head of the military and designated with Tier 5 credentials within the presidency”.
It says his position and growing influence had “placed him in the centre of an aggressive ploy to assassinate him”.
“BEDROCK, in the past three months, has been tasked with surveillance of active locality, surfing of the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and China platforms, communications and currently stands for command to activate active measures within plausible proximity,” the intelligence brief stated.
Chiwenga, a key figure in the November 2017 military-assisted transition that ousted long-time ruler Robert Mugabe, recently found himself at odds with Mnangagwa’s inner circle.
On September 17, the VP presented a dossier to the President, where he demanded the arrest of the latter’s allies Kadukwashe Tagwirei, Pedzai “Scott” Sakupwanya, Dilesh Nguwaya and Wicknell Chivayo for allegedly siphoning billions of dollars from the State.
But this week, Mnangagwa responded to the dossier through Justice minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, who accused Chiwenga of treason.
According to the leaked intelligence report, a payment of US$100 000 was wired to a Jersey NatWest account through an offshore trust instrument facilitated via AFTRADE DMCC Offshore Trust, a company linked to Belarus.
The money, analysts in the document note, was intended to finance the operational phase of the assassination plot.
The report asserted that “DNA and urine samples of ‘Chinenge’ have been collected and analysed to dilute possible counter-measures by Chinenge”.
In its final section, the file records that “the FVEY and Washington are fully aware of ‘BEDROCK’, whose credentials are linked to the Belarusian unit with previous deployments in Iraq and Equatorial Guinea”.
“FVEY” refers to the Five Eyes intelligence alliance of the United States (US), United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
A closing line indicates that “call-off coding on ‘BEDROCK’ are aligned to file ZANUPF372921/08224CGNC”.
Neither the US government, Zimbabwean nor Belarusian officials have publicly commented on the contents of the leaked report, which remains classified under the US National Security Act of 2021. – News Day
