Businessman and a former Central Intelligence Officer (CIO) who led the sting operation against former head of the Roman Catholic Church in Bulawayo, Archbishop Pius Ncube, in 2007 has committed suicide at his company office on Monday.
Ernest Tekere, the managing director of Home Guard Security Services, a Bulawayo-based private investigations company, was found hanging at his offices situated at Josiah Tongogara Street and 13th Avenue in the city centre, by his employees shortly before 3PM.
Tekere shot to prominence when he took incriminating photos and videos of Archbishop Ncube with late Rosemary Sibanda at his then official residence at St Mary’s Cathedral in July 2007.
Police cordoned off the Home Guard offices and removed his body for a post-mortem as wailing relatives gathered.
A family member speaking on condition of anonymity suggested he killed himself shortly after holding a business meeting.
He was generally a nice guy but he seemed to have these demons following him. The last time he attempted to kill himself was last September, and that was his second attempt.
Relative
Two late former ministers – Enos Nkala and Welshman Mabhena once identified Tekere as a key player during the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres in the Midlands and Matabeleland.
In 2007, Tekere was in charge of an operation by the CIO targeting Ncube who was then a government critic.
Camera footage incriminated Archbishop Ncube with his assistant Rosemary Sibanda until Ncube was eventually summoned by the Vatican.
Tekere was also a farmer and the cultural secretary of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association.