Online Reporter
THE majority of our readers have dismissed it as a HOAX but a woman in the mining community of Shackleton insists she recovered her stolen TV set after the thief was attacked by a swarm of bees.
We published a video, which appears to show a man with a swarm of bees all over his body, on our social media platforms at the weekend.
The video also shows a number of people recording the incident, with the man hiding his face, and all of them claiming he was a thief.
However, the majority of our readers have dismissed the video as a hoax, arguing that science could not explain how a swarm of bees could be sent to attack a person.
However, Tracy Munyaradzi (45) of Shackleton, the owner of the TV set which was stolen and recovered, insists that the events portrayed in the video are true. She claims her TV was stolen on Saturday last week after her family left home to attend a memorial service for her late brother-in-law.
“When we returned home we discovered that our television had been stolen,” said Munyaradzi.
She said her younger sister, Grace, suggested contacting a traditional healer, whom she believed could help recover the stolen property.
“We phoned the traditional healer and he agreed to come that same day at around 5pm,” she said.
“He entered our home, held my husband’s hand and asked him to show where the television had been placed.
“He then requested some ashes, which he burned inside the house before telling us to give him two days to send his men to catch the thief,” she said.
There were no developments on Monday last week, she said.
However, at around 11pm on Tuesday, Munyaradzi said they heard a man crying for help outside their house. “At first, we thought someone was calling out for help from a nearby bottle store but the cries continued, with the man repeatedly pleading for assistance,” she said.
Munyaradzi said the man was in the company of two other people. “We could hear three people outside. We asked who it was but the man simply begged us to come outside and help him,” she said.
When her husband finally opened the door, Munyaradzi said what he saw shocked him.
“He saw a man holding our television while being swarmed by bees,” she said.
“Aichema achiti, ‘ndatambura, pandanga ndakuda kutengesa TV ndipo nyuchi dzabva dzandimomotera. Ndibatsireiwo. Ndadzoka neTV yenyu.’”
Munyaradzi said the suspect told them he had taken the television to Lion’s Den intending to sell it.
“There was nothing we could do to help him. When he sat down, the bees continued swarming his head, neck and back.”
She then called the traditional healer, who arrived at around 2am. “The healer removed the man’s shoes before trying to take the television from him but he could not remove it at first,” she said.
“He then sprinkled herbs on my husband’s hands, instructed him to hold the television and my husband managed to retrieve it from the suspect’s grip.”
The traditional healer then took the suspected thief to his base where he claimed he would free him “from the bees attack.”
The sangoma told H-Metro:
“After we caught the suspected thief, he and the owner of the television sat down and reached an agreement. “The suspect paid the amount we required for the matter to be brought before our court and, in the end, we released him because both parties had settled the dispute amicably.
“When we catch a thief, our goal is to ensure the matter is resolved fairly.
“If the victim wants compensation and both sides agree, that is what we facilitate.
“If the victim prefers the case to proceed through the formal justice system and wants the suspect arrested, that is entirely their choice.”
