Online Reporter
Fidelis Munyoro-Chief Court Reporter
The sons of the late Peter Jack Masedza, known as Johane Masowe, are seeking answers and justice regarding the disappearance of their father’s vast estate.
After Johane Masowe died in 1973 in Zambia, disputes arose over his burial and estate across several countries where he had established influence — Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The family, represented by sons Magaga and Rueben Masedza, won the right to exhume their father’s remains from the Gandanzara Shrine in Rusape, where he was buried.
However, the planned exhumation was last week halted after the Gospel of God Church International filed a legal challenge, arguing the burial site’s sacred status and contesting the Government’s approval.
At the time of their father’s death, the family was living in Kenya, holding British passports amidst the region’s liberation struggles.
They arranged to bring their father’s body home to Zimbabwe for a dignified burial, but were barred from accompanying him.
According to Magaga, “Some church members based in Zimbabwe, who were not present during our father’s illness or at the time of his passing, reported us to the colonial authorities. They accused us of being freedom fighters disguising ourselves as mourners. Because of this, we were barred from accompanying our father. His body was flown to Zimbabwe without any of his immediate family present.”
The family later learnt that the original casket they had prepared was destroyed and replaced with another, with the destroyed one buried alongside their father.
Masowe’s sons were denied the chance to stand by his graveside.
Following their father’s burial, the family faced further hardship. They were told they were no longer welcome in Kenya, having been allowed to stay only because of their father.
Forced to leave in their early twenties, they discovered that all their father’s assets in Kenya had vanished — properties sold off and personal belongings taken without their consent.
Years of seeking access to their father’s grave ended in 2003 when a court ruled the burial site was private property, denying them visitation rights.
“This judgment became the final barrier between us and our father’s resting place. To this day, we remain unable to visit his grave,” Magaga lamented.
In their plea to Zimbabwe and the world, the sons of Johane Masowe ask questions about morality and justice.
Meanwhile, the High Court is today set to hear the church’s urgent application to stop the exhumation, while the sons’ lawyers maintain that all legal procedures were followed and urge dismissal of the challenge.
In a prior Supreme Court ruling in December, the sons were affirmed the right to pursue exhumation, but only Government authorities, not the judiciary, can authorise it.
The court clarified that no burial site, including shrines, is exempt from exhumation laws under the Cemeteries Act.
