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Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
CROSSROADS, or mharadzano in Shona, have a special significance in African traditional belief systems.
They are considered sacred spaces where people can communicate with the spirits and seek solutions to their problems.
However, crossroads also have a negative connotation, as they are believed to be places where evil spirits and witches gather and lay traps for unsuspecting passers-by.
On Monday, Mutare woke up to news that someone had placed a clay pot with a knife on top of it at the intersection of Park Road and Vumba Road in the Nyakamete Industrial Area.
The pot also contained small okapi knives and snuff. The clay pot blocked traffic for hours as drivers feared to drive past it.
When The Weekender arrived at the scene on Monday morning, those who had gathered around were convinced that the objects were part of a ritual.
Passers-by avoided the intersection out of fear and the superstitions that surround such objects.
White garment prophets rushed to the scene with the intention of removing the strange objects. Despite the public’s fears that touching the clay pot would harm the white garment prophet, Madzibaba Norman Mavhuruza from Sakubva picked up the clay pot and knives and placed them on the roadside.
However, onlookers accused him of placing the objects on the road to attract attention.
“What motivated him to remove those strange things? I suspect that he is the one behind all this.
“You cannot just remove something like that without knowing where it came from. This man should tell us the truth,” said Mike Muchuwa, a Mutare resident.
Another witness, Charles Mundenda, said the clay pot was placed at the intersection around 8pm on Sunday night, and motorists had a torrid time navigating around it until it was removed on Monday morning.
In an interview with The Weekender, Madzibaba Mavhuruza said he saw it fit to protect people’s lives by removing the clay pot from the road.
“I saw it fit to remove the clay pot and its contents to save lives. What if someone had hit it by mistake and ended up dead? I know people are accusing me of placing the clay pot on the road, but that is ridiculous. It is my job to help people. I had no ulterior motives,” he said.
Madzibaba Mavhuruza also warned people against conducting rituals in public places while endangering other people’s lives.
“People should be warned that when they are performing rituals, they should not do so in public places. They endanger innocent people’s lives,” he said.
In a separate interview, another white garment prophet, Madzibaba Nzira, said some people have different views about crossroads and regard them as dangerous.
“Pamharadzano (crossroads) is where all the bad spirits converge, and anyone who crosses them might pick up the bad spirits and carry them home.
“People also visit crossroads for rituals to get rid of bad spirits, but in doing so, they leave behind objects that can harm others.
“These objects include broken eggs, clay pots, red cloths, razor blades, needles, and other weird things that are often found at crossroads.
“This is what we have witnessed here today. Rituals were conducted here and objects which endanger other people’s lives were left here.
“This is the work of a person who was trying to do away with a curse that has been troubling him or her. However, this is not the way to go because this is a main road and this endangers other people’s lives,” he said.
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