By Staff Reporter
A KEY figure in the 2017 coup, then Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) commander, Retired Chief Air Marshal Elson Moyo is lucky to be alive after he lost control of his vehicle, veered off the road and crashed into a tree.
The ex-top military man was reportedly travelling alone from his farm en route to Chegutu town when the accident occurred this Tuesday.
According to a leaked internal memorandum from a Chegutu police district intelligence officer addressed to his provincial boss, Moyo sustained injuries to his right and shoulder.
“On the 29th day of October 2024, 1500hours and at 10 kilometre peg along Chegutu-Pickstone Road, Chegutu (Oldham Farm), the sole party, Retired Chief Air Marshal Elson Moyo (former commander of Air Force of Zimbabwe) aged 67 of Concession Hill Farm, Chegutu was driving a silver Toyota Hilux double cab registration number AES3454 in the dust road from his farm towards Chegutu.
“Upon reaching the 10km peg, he failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle veered off the road to the right, hit a tree and landed on its wheels,” reads the memo.
“The sole party did not sustain any visible injuries but was complaining of a painful right hip and shoulder. He was taken to Chegutu District Hospital by a well-wisher, where he was airlifted to Harare by Air Ambulance (helicopter). His condition is stable.”
The crashed top-of-the-range car is said to have dislodged its front right wheel, and damaged the right headlamp and front fender.
ZRP Chegutu Traffic is investigating the suspicious accident under Report Received Book (RRB) Number 5841121.
Moyo served as AFZ commander since December 2017 and is one of the main figures in the 2017 coup d’état that deposed late former president Robert Mugabe.
He was previously deputy commander of the Air Force. At the time he was appointed Air Force commander, Moyo’s military rank was upgraded from air vice-marshal to air marshal by President Emmerson Mnangagwa. In 2003 he was promoted from air commodore to air vice-marshal by former president Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa ‘retired’ Moyo just a few hours after the presidential plane aborted landing at the Victoria Falls Airport due to a bomb scare.
Mnangagwa did not provide details for allegedly sacking Moyo, who was replaced by Air Marshal John Jacob Nzvede.
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