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Main picture, Zimbabwe Republic Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri is lifted onto a stretcher after collapsing during a graduation parade at the police Morris Training Depot in Harare yeaterday. Top right, President Mugabe looks at Cde Chihuri

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
POLICE chief Augustine Chihuri collapsed in front of President Robert Mugabe yesterday, but the Commander-in-Chief would not have been too bothered – it was after all a pass-out parade.
The Police Commissioner-General was attending a graduation parade at the police Morris Training Depot in Harare when he suddenly slumped to the ground.

Comm-Gen Chihuri, who was standing next to President Mugabe, was stretchered off for some urgent medical attention. Lands and Rural Settlement Minister Douglas Mombeshora, a medical doctor, attended to the police chief.

The police boss returned to take his seat after 30 minutes – looking fit as if nothing had happened. President Mugabe also appeared not too fussed with the incident, making no reference to it.

Comm-Gen Chihuri blamed fatigue from working long hours as well as a tight right shoe which restricted his blood circulation and caused the dizziness. Oh, and a T-Shirt inside his uniform which he had put on to shield him from the morning chill!

“I want to apologise to my officers about what has happened,” he said, speaking to reporters. “I sincerely apologise to them and I also apologise to my leadership, particularly the President and my Minister of Home Affairs for what has happened and to all of you.”

Comm-Gen Chihuri, who turned 61 in March, said his encounter with the floor had also made him realise just how fit President Robert Mugabe is at age 90.

“I just want to say now finally, those people who think the President is not fit must ask me because we were together, we went through the same paces and there he was, up and about up until now when something caught up with me, so they must take care,” he said.

Comm-Gen Chihuri attributed his blackout to working long hours in recent times and a mix up in the shoes he wore for the occasion.
“I’ve been working overnight for quite some time. The situation has been exacerbated or worsened by the fact that there was a mix up of my shoes. The right shoe was mixed up with the left one. The right shoe is a bit small and it is an old shoe, so my toes were burning because of the tightness of the shoe and there was no circulation (of blood) on that leg. That caused me to be dizzy and then fell down,” he said.

He added: “I had this small blackout because of what I’ve explained, lack of circulation. We checked the blood pressure, it’s okay, you can ask Dr Mombeshora. He also checked the sugar levels, they’re fine.

“That, coupled with the heat and the type of clothing — in the morning it was a bit chilly, so I had put in some T-Shirt as you can see — so that caused that (collapse).”

He, however, insisted that he was fit and that the nation had nothing to be alarmed of.
Comm-Gen Chihuri also apologised to fellow service chiefs following the mishap and promised that they would review procedures during parade to reduce time spent while standing.

“I just also want to extend my apologies to my colleagues, the service chiefs, because I know this might affect them in one way or the other, but I can assure you that this will not happen again,” he went on.

“We stand for too long at our parades, you know, for more than two hours we are standing. Remember I was there at parade by 10:45 standing until 12 (noon), it’s quite long… but we’ll make some adjustments where necessary.”