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Gibson Mhaka/Siphilisiwe Mloyi
IN a strange incident, a four-year-old boy who went missing under mysterious circumstances was found after a four-day search lying naked on top of his unclea��s grave, a few metres away from the homestead.
The development left the boya��s family puzzled as to how he ended up on the grave despite their daily frantic search.
They said that they passed by the grave a countless number of times seeing nothing amiss.
The boy was reported to be well and behaving normally.
The incident which is still the talk of the village happened a fortnight ago at Sivalo village in Nkayi, Matabeleland North.
It has also sparked fears of witchcraft among the family members. According to a family member, Nqobile Khumalo (ABOVE), the incident came after one of his brothers Nkululeko failed to perform a ritual on Artwella��s grave where the boy was later spotted lying in his birthday suit.
Artwell died of a strange ailment after he allegedly assisted Nkululeko to exhume their fathera��s remains in Gwelutshena for reburial at a family cemetery in Sivalo area.
In an interview, Nqobile said the family was struggling to come to terms with the incident. He said they were also suspecting that whole incident was centred on witchcraft practices.
a�?As a family we are still numb with shock. After the boya��s disappearance we searched for him everywhere with no success. We found the boy four days later lying naked on top of his unclea��s grave which is a few metres away from our homestead.
a�?What is really troubling us is that the incident happened when Nkululeko had picked an argument with the rest of the family after he tried to perform a ritual on our late brother (Artwell)a��s grave where the boy was later found naked,a�? said Nqobile.
Nkululeko reportedly claimed that the ritual was meant to get rid off an evil spirit haunting the family.
a�?Nkululeko wanted to perform some rituals on Artwella��s grave claiming he will be cleansing evil spirits tormenting our family. Everyone was against the idea and that is why we are now suspecting him of using supernatural powers to make the child disappear to justify his foiled ritual mission.
a�?The reason why everyone was against him is that Artwell died under mysterious circumstances after Nkululeko had asked him to help exhume our fathera��s remains from Gwelutshena for reburial at our home area. The whole family was initially against the idea but they went ahead and exhumed the remains and Artwell mysteriously died soon after reburying the remains,a�? added Nqobile.
Nqobile further said when the family consulted a prophet, he told them one of the members was responsible for the boya��s disappearance.
a�?We consulted a prophet who told us that one of the family members was responsible for the disappearance of the child. The prophet said the person used supernatural powers and we confronted Nkululeko with the accusations and he was not even elusive,a�? he said.
Nkululeko who stays in Nkayi could not be reached for comment as he reportedly does not have a mobile phone.
Online Reporter