{"id":7453,"date":"2025-06-20T11:40:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2025-06-20T11:40:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:40:31","slug":"former-zimbabwe-deputy-finance-minister-david-chapfika-dies-in-tragic-bridge-accident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7453","title":{"rendered":"Former Zimbabwe Deputy Finance Minister David Chapfika Dies in Tragic Bridge Accident"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Harare Correspondent<br>HARARE \u2014 David Chapfika, Zimbabwe&#8217;s former Deputy Finance Minister and long-serving ZANU PF stalwart, died Wednesday in a horrific car accident when his vehicle plunged off a bridge and overturned in a river. He was 68.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fatal Crash at &#8220;Pabridge RepaStondon&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The accident occurred near Chabwino at the bridge locally known as &#8220;pabridge repaStondon.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to eyewitness accounts, Chapfika&#8217;s Mercedes-Benz ML collided with another vehicle before careening off the bridge and landing roof-first in the water below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Former deputy finance minister David Chapfika has died after his vehicle drove off a bridge and landed on its roof in the river,&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Political Heavyweight Remembered<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chapfika served as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Deputy Finance Minister during Zimbabwe&#8217;s economic challenges of the early 2000s<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ZANU PF Central Committee member until his death<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mutoko South legislator for multiple terms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Chapfika was a vocal advocate for indigenisation policies that shaped Zimbabwe&#8217;s economic landscape,&#8221; said a party insider who requested anonymity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Death Rumors Debunked &#8211; Until Now<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a tragic twist, Chapfika had been falsely reported dead in 2021 from COVID-19 complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Those rumors were proven wrong then, but today we&#8217;ve lost him for real,&#8221; lamented a family friend reached by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Outpouring of Tributes Expected<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As news spread, tributes began pouring in:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>ZANU PF officials pledged formal statements<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mutoko constituents mourned their longtime representative<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Colleagues recalled his economic policy contributions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The accident site remained cordoned off Wednesday evening as authorities investigated the cause of the crash. No other fatalities were reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chapfika&#8217;s death marks the loss of one of Zimbabwe&#8217;s most enduring political figures, whose career spanned decades of the nation&#8217;s tumultuous economic history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Harare CorrespondentHARARE \u2014 David Chapfika, Zimbabwe&#8217;s former Deputy Finance Minister and long-serving ZANU PF stalwart, died Wednesday in a horrific car accident when his vehicle plunged off a bridge and&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7455,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7453\/revisions\/7455"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}