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ONE of the three family members from Bulawayo’s Emakhandeni suburb who died in a fire incident last week left a diary in which he narrated details of events leading to their death.The recordings were done over a week. In a diary shown to Chronicle yesterday, Cleopas Mudinzwa (37), who was burnt to death with her mother Chipo (58) and younger sister Christine (29), blamed church members (name of church withheld) for tormenting his family after their mother left the congregation.
In the diary Cleopas recorded events and names of people who visited his family between 13 and 21 August.
“If we die the people I mentioned in the last pages are to blame for causing us emotional stress, disturbing our right to be at home, invasion of privacy, causing us humiliation to the whole neighbourhood, disturbing our peace and not allowing us to do our work properly,” wrote Cleopas on 21 August.
He said on Wednesday of that week at 11am a man and a woman came to talk to his mother who refused to open the door.
“She refused to open the door for them and they had to talk while the door was closed saying they wanted to see me and my sister.
“At 11.33am the two came to talk to us and we spoke to them through thee window because we did not open the door,” wrote Cleopas.
“On Monday, 19 August 2013, at 11am the two people came saying my mother was sick yet she did not tell anyone about that. I do not know where they got that.
“The woman cried but we do not know why because we refused to open the door.”
Cleopas also wrote that the following day (Tuesday) at 5.45pm the man this time visited the family alone saying he wanted to take his mother to hospital although she insisted that she was not sick.
“They spoke at the door but we did not open. He said these words, ‘eat because I will come back.’ At 6pm on the same day three people including the usual two came and all were saying they wanted to see my mother.
“She talked to them at the door but did not open. They asked her the reason why she left the church. Another man who later joined the trio said to my mother, ‘sleep wearing your church scarf,” he wrote.
Cleopas said that earlier on he had reported the matter to the police after noticing that some people were throwing stones at their house.
He wrote that a Constable Mahohoma came to their house with his team on a Sunday afternoon to assess the situation.
In his summary Cleopas described the week between 13 to 21 August as a week of horror, terror, victimisation, fear, sleepless nights, lack of food and a week of confinement.
“Is it a crime to change a church? If not this is the crime my family is being charged of. I have never seen anything like this, that former church members visit you even when one has left their church,” wrote Cleopas.
He also accused his neighbours of failing to assist them and instead made fun of them.
“Is the society helpful at all? No. They laughed and thought we were mad. They do not know that the Lord works in mysterious ways and that their evil is going to end,” he wrote.
The family’s close relative said they suspected foul play and vowed to take the diary to the police.
“We found this diary in Cleopas’ room and quickly took it away. We have read it and it shows that Cleopas was not mentally challenged as some people say. We will be taking this diary to the police,” said the relative who preferred anonymity for fear of victimisation.
The church leaders could not be reached for comment last night.
The three family members were buried at West Park Cemetery in Bulawayo last week Friday.
During the fire incident the family’s property worth thousands of dollars also went up in smoke.
Residents close to the family had suspected that Mrs Mudinzwa and her children deliberately started the fire.
They said the family had been locking itself indoors two weeks prior to the fateful day saying it was afraid of some unknown strange creatures, which made them to suspect that the trio had developed a mental problem.
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