MILLICENT HUNGWE
Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana has come under fire for denying claims that Sungura musician Tatenda Pinjisi died due to a shortage of painkillers at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.
Mangwana’s comments came after a heartbreaking video circulating on social media showing Pinjisi begging for painkillers in his hospital bed before his death.
This has sparked outrage from the public and criticism of the Zimbabwean healthcare system.
Mangwana visited Gokwe District Hospital to prove that medication, including painkillers like Pain Eeze, was available and he shared photos of the hospital’s well-stocked pharmacy on his X account, claiming that the healthcare system was functioning properly.
Mangwana attributed Pinjisi’s death to injuries sustained in a car accident near Norton on April 11, where three others, including two band members and a female passenger, died at the scene. Pinjisi succumbed to his injuries two days later.
The government spokesperson insisted that pain alone doesn’t kill and that Pinjisi had received necessary pain treatment.
He stood firm in his denial that the lack of medication contributed to Pinjisi’s death, instead emphasizing the severity of the musician’s injuries.
“Munhu haana kufa nekuti pakashaikwa mushonga. Akafa nekuti he was fatally injured in an accident. He had been given adequate painkillers of the correct strength by the clinicians. In any case, someone doesn’t die because they are in pain. And this particular had already been given stronger pain killers through intramuscularly and intravenously,” he said. Pain killer Requests May Have Been Hallucinations,” said Mangwana.
Mangwana added that the viral video may have shown a distorted reality. He suggested that Pinjisi’s cries could have been the result of head trauma, which sometimes causes confusion or hallucinations.
