A MILITARY helicopter carrying Vice-President Kembo Mohadi was yesterday forced to abort landing at the Josiah Tungamirai Airbase, formerly Thornhill in Gweru and return to Harare under unclear circumstances.
\nMohadi was supposed to officiate at the handover ceremony of a 30bed COVID-19 isolation wing at Gweru General Hospital that was refurbished at a cost of R15 million by platinum miner, Unki.<\/p>\n
The VP was reportedly in the company of Local Government minister July Moyo in the helicopter and was also supposed to officiate at the handover of water pumps bought by government for the Gweru City Council\u2019s Gwenhoro Dam.<\/p>\n
Today, Mohadi to commission the Nyamatikiti Bridge in Mvuma. All programmes were immediately cancelled after the helicopter turned back to Harare under unclear circumstances.<\/p>\n
The helicopter arrived at the Josiah Tungamirai Airbase at around 9am, made rounds in the air and turned back to Harare. State Security minister Owen Ncube and Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Larry Mavima as well as Zanu-PF Midlands provincial executive were already at the airbase.<\/p>\n
Some officials immediately claimed the helicopter failed to land because of bad weather, and would return back in an hour.<\/p>\n
An hour passed and Ncube and Mavima left with other guests in tow, while those waiting at the Gweru General Hospital were also told to disperse and wait for another day when Mohadi would be able to come back.<\/p>\n
This triggered speculation about the failed landing. A source at the Gweru Air Force said: \u201cSome pilots I spoke to and military aviation officers told me that the official reason for the chopper\u2019s failure to land in Gweru was bad weather.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you never know with the fights happening in our political space and inside Zanu-PF itself. It\u2019s rare that a VVIP chopper fails to land at a military camp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another source claimed it was rare for a helicopter to abort landing due to \u201cthis prevailing weather, I think there is another reason\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to the source, it was foggy but not enough to cause the aborted landing.<\/p>\n
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told NewsDay that she did not have information about the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cSorry, I haven\u2019t got any information on what you are asking,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mavima said he was in a meeting. \u201cI can\u2019t talk,\u201d he curtly said.<\/p>\n
Fabian Mashingaidze, the Gweru Provincial Hospital medical superintendent confirmed that the event at the institution where Mohadi was supposed to oversee had been cancelled at the last minute.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will most probably have the event on Thursday next week. You can call Minister Larry Mavima on why it did not take place today. I am not the best person to talk about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A MILITARY helicopter carrying Vice-President Kembo Mohadi was yesterday forced to abort landing at the Josiah Tungamirai Airbase, formerly Thornhill in Gweru and return to Harare under unclear circumstances. Mohadi was supposed to officiate at the handover ceremony of a 30bed COVID-19 isolation wing at Gweru General Hospital that was refurbished at a cost of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[38,639,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-26757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-zanu-pf","10":"tag-mohadi","11":"tag-mthuli-ncube"},"yoast_head":"\n