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Lovemore Meya Features Correspondent
Saturday November 14, 2015 will remain etched in the minds of Chitungwiza residents who woke up to one of the most gruesome and mysterious murders in the history of the dormitory town.
On that day, Proud Mupambwa butchered his colleagues – Lloyd Jambawu (31) and Marko Masenda (37) – in cold blood.
The regular Saturday morning turned bloody when Mupambwa visited a shebeen at Abraham Chawira’s home where the three regularly met for beer.
Little did they know that their encounter on that fateful day would be the last.
Jambawu would receive a fatal blow to the head while Masenda would be hacked on the head, chest and stomach.
Similar to all puzzling murders, conspiracy theorists moved in to come up with various theories, some of them bordering on the bizarre.
Some blamed the murder on political enmity, others proffered the theory that the murders involved a case of a deal gone sour while the issue of spirits possessing Mupambwa led him to kill his friends.
Mupambwa, however, took his secrets to the grave as he allegedly killed himself on Monday while in police custody.
Only those closest to him are trying to reconstruct what could have taken place a week before the murders.
Having lived with her husband for over eight years, Mupambwa’s widow, Choice Chiringa, saw the changes in his behaviour a week before the murder.
“During the week he looked different. It was as if he was losing his mind. He visited an apostolic sect prophetess in Mbare where he was told of evil spirits haunting him, wanting him dead or to kill someone.
“He was told to buy a cloth to be used to calm the spirits.
“My sister then came and suggested we visit another prophet where he was foretold of the killings and taking his own life in jail.
“The prophet told us that his father identified as (Jeffrey) had goblins. This was similar to what my husband used to say,” she said.
On the fateful day, she recalled, her husband woke her at around 4am and narrated his feelings towards the impeding deaths.
It shook her though she could not do anything to stop him.
“He told me that he was going to die. He even instructed me to take care of our children. He also asked me to take our belongings to his brother who lives in Manyame.”
Despite claiming he would die that day, Mupambwa assured her that all would be well as the spirits of war collaborators like chimbwido and mujibha would protect him.
She then stayed calm hoping the said spirits would make her husband see another day.
But in the next breath, Mupambwa declared that he was going to die either at home or in prison.
“I asked him why, but he did not respond only assuring me that he would be fine. After that, he bathed and left the house,” she said.
The next time she heard of her husband, he had committed the heinous double murders.
“I was coming from fetching water at around 6.30am when my neighbour informed me that my husband had killed someone,” she said.
After learning that the man she had fallen in love with and spent many years with could be a murder suspect, Chiringa immediately took her three children and left their home fearing for their own lives.
She had realised that his threats earlier in the week were coming to pass.
“I was afraid he would come after us since he was not in his normal senses,” she said.
Later that day, Chiringa visited her husband who was being held at St Mary’s Police Station.
What followed next shocked her.
Mupambwa professed ignorance of what had happened.
“When I asked why he killed his best friends, he just said he did not know what had happened. He also said his father’s witchcraft was behind all the bad things in their lives,” she added.
After chatting with her husband she went to her sister’s house where she had left their children.
On Monday morning, she received news she had not expected. Her husband had committed suicide in his cell.
“I do not even understand what really happened and cannot believe he is dead. His relatives are not forthcoming and his body has not been collected for burial,” she complained.
Various versions of the case have emerged after the murders and subsequent suicide.
Eliphas Chawira, who owns the house where the double murder occurred, is still in shock and cannot believe what happened on that fateful day.
He was also attacked by Mupambwa who said he wanted to kill five people that day.
“Mupambwa came here on Saturday around 6am to pick up my son Abraham so that they could attend a meeting. We never suspected anything,” he said.
At the house, Mr Chawira said, Mupambwa asked for an axe to cut some firewood.
“I gave him an axe and left for my workplace where I repair shoes. A short while later I heard that he had struck Jambawu on the head with the axe,” he said.
After striking Jambawu, Mupambwa wrestled Chawira’s son Abraham and Masenda who snatched the axe from him.
Abraham fled towards the left, while Masenda who now had the axe went to the right.
As he was fleeing, Masenda stumbled and fell to the ground.
Before he could get up, Mupambwa had caught up with him, took the axe and struck him once on the head, chest and abdomen.
Masenda died on the spot.
Abraham was at a loss for words on the day’s events.
“We were all best friends and were always together. Mupambwa just started attacking us from nowhere,” he said.
“He just struck Jambawu with the axe on the head. We tried to wrestle the axe from him before we ran in different directions.
“Mupambwa followed Masenda who had the axe, snatched it and struck him with the weapon. He was baying for our blood. Mupambwa then sat next to Masenda’s body until he was arrested,” he said.
Mupambwa’s former landlord, who refused to be named, said his erstwhile tenant seemed to be reserved although he often quarrelled with his wife.
“Mupambwa stayed here for about four months before I had problems with him over rentals. He would lie about settling the debts and fought with his wife.
“He was never home most of the time and the wife told me he was out of town attending to vehicles since he was a mechanic,” he said.
Masenda and Jambawu’s relatives are still trying to come to terms with what happened that day.
They were shocked since Mupambwa was very close to the people he killed.
Masenda’s brother, Wellington Hombasha, said the family was horrified by their relative’s death.
He said the friends never quarrelled on the day.
“I believe this is the act of evil spirits. Looking at the whole picture, I can conclude that the devil’s hand was at work.
“We do not expect such action from someone in his right senses,” he said.
Masenda’s aunt, Juliet Chakavarika, expressed her pain at the way her nephew died.
“I still find it very difficult to comprehend since Marko grew up in my custody. He was very humble and did not pick fights with anyone.
“We heard that Marko never did anything wrong to Mupambwa as they were very close and would work together on menial jobs.”
Jambawu’s grandfather, Mr Ngoni Jambawu, said the family was failing to understand his grandson’s death.
Speaking at Jambawu’s funeral in Mufakose, Mr Jambawu said the death was a sad development.
“It is so painful that he was not ill and had not quarrelled with Mupambwa. My grandson did not deserve such a horrible death.”
To add to the twist, neighbours allege that soon after the murders one of the victim’s relatives performed some rituals at the scene declaring that Mupambwa would die.
Traditionalists and social commentators are also divided over the murders.
Sekuru Friday Chisanu of the Traditional Medical Practitioners Council said Mupambwa could have been possessed.
“This is not a simple case. If there is a relative possessing goblins, this could drive one to kill. On the other hand, if in a family someone killed a stranger, the spirit of that dead person comes for vengeance.
“This normally leads people in those families to commit suicide by hanging. If it were a goblin it would only make one lose their sanity,” he said.
Social commentator Mai Rebecca Chisamba blames such actions on drug abuse or kuromba.
“Possessing goblins and being possessed by evil spirits are two different things. Some people visit traditionalists seeking enhancers in their wealth that will at a later stage haunt them. After getting these things, they will fail to control them and it causes a lot of suffering,” she said.
However, she did not dismiss drug abuse in the Chitungwiza murders.
“At this stage, we really cannot point a finger on what could have happened since the cause of such actions remains a mystery,” she said.
Jambawu was buried in Chihota on Wednesday while Masenda was laid to rest in Murehwa the following day.
Mupambwa’s body is still at the mortuary, his wife struggling to make sense of why the spirit of the “chimbwindos’’ and “mujibhas’’ failed to protect her husband.
Online Reporter