Police probe as Mugabe's likely heir dies in blaze

Mr Mujuru's charred body was found amid the remains of his farmhouse in Beatrice, 50 miles south of Harare yesterday morning. He was 62.

State security minister Sydney Sekeramayi appeared weeping on state ZBC television to say: "He is no more. That is the hard bitter truth. One of Zimbabwe's greatest sons is gone." Mr Mugabe described Mr Mujuru's death as "devastating."

Mr Mujuru, who was director of Mr Mugabe's forces during the 1970s war for independence, was seen as a moderate within the president's Zanu-PF party. The general's death will intensify the battle to succeed the increasingly infirm Mr Mugabe, who, at 87, was 25 years his senior. It will also leave his widow, Joyce Mujuru, vulnerable. Until now, the vice-president has been considered as little more than a puppet of her businessman husband, who retired from the army in 1990 and had built up vast interests in diamonds and chrome.

Though the general had a reputation as a womaniser, the couple appeared together at state functions. Mrs Mujuru is rumoured to have personally cared for more than one of her husband's illegitimate children. Unconfirmed reports said a female companion also perished in the fire.

Details of the ex-army chief's death were sparse, fuelling speculation among rights activists that the fire was not an accident. State radio said that Mr Mujuru visited a motel yesterday evening before retiring to his home. A domestic worker alerted police to the fire, but officers arrived only after it had swept through the building. Mr Mujuru's body was found in a small room leading off his bedroom. Apparently he had tried to escape the inferno, but was overcome by smoke. His body was taken to a nearby army barracks for pathological tests.

Cabinet ministers and family members, including the vice-president, gathered at the remains of the farmhouse yesterday. "We came here early in the morning after we were told about what had happened. I still thought he might have been badly burnt. It was difficult to reconcile that he actually died, burnt beyond recognition," said Mr Sekeramayi.

The Mujurus seized the 3,500- acre farm from white farmer Guy Watson-Smith at the start of Mr Mugabe's violent land grab programme in 2001.

The National Constitutional Assembly, a leading local pressure group, said Mujuru's death was "suspicious" and called for an independent investigation.

Mr Mujuru had long been at loggerheads with defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, who heads a rival faction of Zanu-PF that also includes mines minister Obert Mpofu.Mining sources told The Scotsman that Mr Mpofu's recent ban on chrome ore exports was an attempt to cut off a major source of funding for the Mujuru faction ahead of elections expected next year.