Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza & Nomalisa Gumpo, Sunday News Reporters
ON 1 July 1980, Mrs Pamhidzai Madzana received a telegram message that would change her family’s life forever.
The message was short, straight to the point but devastating.
Her husband Joshua Chinyama Madzana, a police officer based at Ross Camp in Bulawayo, had not reported for duty as expected after taking a few days away from work.
Back then, the day telegram was a quick and effective method of sending messages.
For 45 years, the Madzana family searched for answers on the whereabouts of the police officer, husband and father of nine children.
On 30 May 2025, Mrs Madzana died without knowing what happened to her husband after he left Masvingo for Bulawayo, where he was stationed after visiting his family for a few days.
“My mother passed away in May and was buried without knowing what happened to her husband. A few days after we buried her, something strange happened.
“My sister’s daughter, who was born in 1989, nine years after her grandfather died, started speaking in a strange voice as if she had been possessed by her grandfather’s spirit.
“She told the family that she knew where her grandfather was buried in a shallow grave on a farm not too far from our homestead,” Ms Vimbai Madzana told Sunday News.
“She said she saw smoke and a person wearing a police uniform who was instructing her to tell the family what happened to him. We had no reason to doubt her because she was talking about someone who died before she was even born.”
The family consulted a spirit medium who told them that the police officer who disappeared 45 years ago had been murdered along the way when he left home for Bulawayo to report back for work.
With the help of the spirit medium, the granddaughter led the family to a nearby farm where she said the late Madzana had been buried in a shallow grave after he fell victim to the gruesome murder.
“On the day that my sister’s daughter led us to the shallow grave, we walked for over 10 kilometres and she led us to a farm known as Makori Annex Farm.
“She started convulsing and collapsed. After a few minutes, she recovered and led us to a bushy area within the farm.
After crying for a while, she said we had arrived where her grandfather was murdered and buried,” said Ms Madzana.
“Speaking just like how I still remember my father’s voice, she said he was murdered on the farm and the people that killed him removed his heart and private parts. He said he was to avenge his death so that he could rest in peace.”
The family notified the police and sought guidance on how to proceed and have the remains of the late police officer exhumed.
Masvingo police assisted the family in seeking permission from the farm owner Mr George Dahwa to exhume the remains.
Speaking to Sunday News from his farm in Masvingo, Mr Dahwa said he had no objections to the exhumation.
He said over the years, they have been observing mysterious fires at night in the vicinity of the grave site where the police officer is presumed to be buried.
“On many occasions during the night, I observed flames around that area, but surprisingly, I would not see any signs that a fire had been set in that area in the morning.
“It’s a good thing that the family wants to take the remains of their relative back home so that he can be given a proper burial,” said Mr Dahwa.
The headman of Gadzingo Village where the Madzana family hails from, said the only way the late police officer can rest in peace is when he is buried by his family at his homestead.
“The story of Joshua Madzana, who went missing so many years ago, is well known in the village and as the traditional leader of the area, I have no objection about the family re-burying him so that his soul can rest in peace,” he said.
The exhumation is yet to be carried out as the family is working closely with the relevant Government department to ensure that the process is done according to the dictates of the laws of the country.
Remembering her late father, Ms Madzana said he was a loving dad who loved his children dearly.
“He was a great provider. My mother was a stay-at-home mother and he did everything for us. At the time of his disappearance, only four of us were still at school and we dropped out of school as my mother could not afford to pay our fees,” she said.
