Moffat Mungazi
Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
SECRET grave visits under the cover of darkness have left a Chimanimani widow convinced that her stepchildren are behind her recurring strokes.
The belief has led Violet Tayerwa Sunguro to seek justice before Chief Muusha’s community court.
The eerie court battle has seen the grieving widow accusing her stepchildren — led by Lucky Sunguro — of orchestrating sinister acts that have left her paralysed.
The elderly woman, who appeared before the traditional court last Saturday, narrated how her late husband’s children from his first wife were tormenting her, visiting their father’s grave in secret and performing strange rituals without informing her.
Now walking with the aid of crutches, Violet told the court that her husband, Murder Sunguro, was in a polygamous marriage before he died together with his first wife, leaving her as the surviving spouse.
She claimed her stepson, Lucky Sunguro and his sisters, who all stay in Harare, frequently visit their late father’s grave in Chimanimani in secret, and that each time they visit the grave, she suffers a stroke.
“The children from the first wife have been tormenting me in an escalating feud over inheritance and spiritual practices, which I now believe have taken a toll on my health. My stepchildren, who reside in Harare, secretly visit their father’s grave in Chikotokoto Village under the cover of darkness, performing strange rituals that have left me suffering multiple strokes.
“They come in secret and visit their father’s grave without informing me. They are seen at night cleaning the grave with hoes and other strange paraphernalia. After that, they leave without even visiting me. That is when I end up having a stroke, and so now I fear that they are the ones causing all of this. I have had recurrent strokes each time they visit that grave,” said Violet, who now relies on crutches to walk.
Violet was in a polygamous marriage with the late Murder Sunguro, whose first wife passed away before him.
As the surviving spouse, she had expected her stepchildren to treat her with respect.
However, instead of receiving the respect she felt she deserved, her stepchildren, led by Lucky, had grabbed her late husband’s estate and disregarded her existence.
As if the alleged nocturnal rituals were not enough, Violet also accused Lucky of seizing her late husband’s shop, dismissing her rights as the surviving spouse, and completely disregarding her children’s stake in the estate.
“I am now living in fear. They want me dead. They do not respect me as their father’s surviving spouse. I am the one who should be in charge of his estate, but because Lucky and his siblings are greedy, they want to kill me.”
She lamented that her stepson’s greediness drove her to abandon any claim to the financial benefits she was entitled to from her late husband’s workplace, fearing for her life.
“Because I do not want to die, I will no longer claim any benefits that I was supposed to benefit after my husband’s death,” she said, further accusing Lucky of trying to take away the only piece of land she was occupying, claiming it belonged to his late mother.
“He took every other piece of land, and I have been quiet all along, but now he wants the remaining piece, claiming it belonged to his mother. He is evil, and I beg for justice from this. I am done with these children,” she said.
Her biological son, Fungai Sunguro expressed deep frustration over his half-brother’s behaviour, describing it as highly suspicious.
He even questioned why Lucky and his siblings visit their late father’s grave under the cover of darkness without informing his mother.
“How can someone visit the graveyard at night and conduct rituals without telling our mother? Even if they were not rituals, let us say it was an innocent visit, why did they not tell our mother? And why do they always have these grave visits at night? How can someone travel all the way from Harare to visit a grave at night? We smell a rat,” he fumed.
Fungai said he had confronted Lucky about his actions, questioning whether he doubted their paternity or their mother’s legitimacy as their late father’s widow. “He did not answer. I asked why he was visiting our late father’s grave at night, and he told me to do it as well, as no one was stopping me from doing it,” he revealed, further complaining that Lucky had taken everything that belonged to their father during the funeral, leaving his mother in a state of distress.
“My mother has been suffering from strokes ever since Lucky and his sisters started visiting our late father’s grave in secret,” he said.
Despite the serious allegations levelled against him, Lucky was not present in court to defend himself.
The matter was adjourned to February 22.
Online Reporter