THE Director-General of the Central Intelligence Organisation, Happyton Bonyongwe, was on Friday rushed to St Annes Hospital where he was admitted and operated on after suffering from gastroenteritis upon arrival from Equatorial Guinea where he had accompanied President Robert Mugabe last week.
STAFF REPORTER
Gastroenteritis, according to medical research, causes inflammation of the stomach lining and intestines.
The infection can be transmitted through contact with an infected person or contaminated food and drink. Symptoms can include vomiting, fever and stomach ache.
Intelligence sources told NewsDay yesterday that Bonyongwe was operated on and released at the weekend. The chief spy was conspicuous by his absence at Mugabe’s birthday bash at Chipadze Stadium, Bindura, on Saturday.
He was represented by his deputy Aaron Daniel Tonde Nhepera.
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“When he left for Equatorial Guinea, the DG (director-general) was not feeling well,” one of the sources said. “Upon returning home he was taken to St Anne’s where he was admitted on Friday and had a minor operation. He was discharged at the weekend.”
The spy boss yesterday reportedly chaired a meeting attended by his directors before he joined other service chiefs for security briefings with Mugabe.
However, repeated attempts for a comment from Presidential spokesperson George Charamba were fruitless as his mobile phones went unanswered.
Bonyongwe, Zimbabwe Defence Forces Commander Constantine Chiwenga, police chief Augustine Chihuri and prisons boss Paradzai Zimondi are seen as the powers behind Mugabe’s throne.
They are accused by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T of having plotted the bloody June 2008 presidential election run-off to secure Mugabe’s presidency.
The MDC-T claims that at least 200 of its supporters were killed, thousands maimed, injured and displaced during the violent campaign allegedly executed by State security agents, war veterans and Zanu PF militia.