KWEKWE – The body of a murdered 31-year old artisanal miner, which spent nine days at the
doorsteps of the Muchechetere family in Zhombe East, amid the deceased’s instructions, was taken
to Kwekwe General Hospital mortuary by the police to allow the two families to find each other.
Police had to intervene as the Muchechetere family was now having sleepless nights as they could
not stomach to live with the “talking” body in a coffin which was dumped at their doorsteps by
relatives of the deceased artisanal panner, identified as Munyaradzi from Chidoma Village in Gokwe.
Munyaradzi’s body was moved to Kwekwe General Hospital mortuary last Thursday by the police, to
give room to feuding families to find a lasting solution to the deadlock.
Sources told New Ziana that Munyaradzi’s family is allegedly demanding a herd of 60 cattle from the
Muchechetere’s family before conducting the burial.
The body of the artisanal miner which was only found in a disused mine after some 21 days' search
was said to be missing some body parts – eye, tongue and hair removed from the back of the head.
It is alleged that Munyaradzi could have been murdered for ritual purposes before his body was
dumped in the mine.
Now the body of the late artisanal miner is said to have spent nine days at the doorstep of the
Muchechetere homestead, amid allegations that this was done through instructions from the
deceased who is said to be manifesting through a friend.
From St George's Township right through to Gokwe where the artisanal miner came from the bizarre
issue of how the deceased is refusing to be buried with missing parts is topical.
“We stay up there but come from the same village with Munyaradzi back in Gokwe. We just heard of
how the deceased has been speaking and instructing people. We came here to see for ourselves
after having been told that he might be a relative.
“We are told he has spent over a week here and we needed to see it for ourselves as well. It breaks
my heart that people can easily lose their lives in such a gruelling way.
“When we heard of the story, we thought its one of those fiery tales. However, coming here to see
the body lying there we are convinced wonders never cease to happen. We are touched as a
community,” said one villager.
Villagers in Zhombe East were now living in fear with elders calling for urgent intervention.
Sekuru Makwera said: ”I hope this incident will serve as a wake-up call to other youngsters that you
dont just spill blood and get away with it. Right now you cant walk alone in the bush as these
people kill for fun. I am now walking with this knobkerrie for defense for you wont know when they
can strike. Can this surely be a way of living?”
The Muchechetere family however, appealed to authorities and relatives of the deceased to have an
amicable solution to the impasse.
A family spokesperson Maxwell Muchechetere said: “What I believe here must be an issue of
mistaken identity. I am sure a name similar to our cousin popped up and these people decided to
dump the body at our doorstep.
“It not easy not to sleep in your own house for over a week because a body has been dumped at
your house. However, people are saying we abandoned our house but all these are just stories. We
have nothing to hide and we have interrogated our boys who used to play with the late boy but they
have pleaded innocent.
“Even the police have found nothing on them after interrogations. We just want this to be over so
we get back to our lives.”
The case is now being handled by Chief Njelele and Chief Samambwa with the help of law
enforcement agents as they try to engage the warring parties for a possible solution to the impasse.
This is not the first time such a case has happened. The body of a murdered Gokwe man, Moses
Chokuda was buried after a year back in 2011 following a huge compensation by the then Midlands
Provincial Affairs Minister Jason Machayas family.
