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Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Correspondent
MYSTERY surrounds the disappearance of a slain freedom fighter’s remains a year after they were exhumed and reburied on the same place in Marange.
The incident which has left the community dumbfounded happened in Maponde Village, prompting the traditional leadership to intervene. The late David George ‘‘Cde Tafirenyika’’ Marangwanda whose remains mysteriously disappeared was allegedly murdered in Nyanyadzi in 1983 by his employer, Eliah Maponde of Maponde Village, under Chief Marange.
Marangwanda hailed from Nyazika Village in Mutasa. Marangwanda’s remains were exhumed from a pit toilet at the Maponde homestead in 2019 and were reburied at the same place as the community awaited the services of the Fallen Heroes’ Trust of Zimbabwe to conduct a proper reburial of the freedom fighter.
This followed the late war veteran’s demands that he be accorded a hero’s burial.
When members of the Fallen Heroes’ Trust of Zimbabwe team finally pitched up in Marange recently, the remains had mysteriously vanished from the temporary ‘‘toilet grave’’, prompting the troubled family to recall a Honde Valley-based traditional healer, Sekuru Takawanda Bhasikiti to assist in relocating them.
Marangwanda’s avenging spirit has been tormenting the Maponde family by mysteriously killing family members.
To date, more than 10 family members have died as a result of the avenging spirit’s vengeance. The spirit is reportedly demanding a reburial befitting a hero as well as the tracing of his family members.
In 2020, six Maponde family members died. All this was revealed when the alleged perpetrator, Eliah, his wife, Mildred and three children, Heggar, Prosper and Clottie were summoned to Chief Marange’s court last week on charges of violating a grave and stealing the remains.
Eliah and Mildred’s sons, Eliah (Jnr) and Proud sought Chief Marange’s intervention, saying they were fearing for their lives following the death of their younger brother who had just finished university last year. Eliah (Snr) and his family defaulted the court hearing.
“Just to show you the gravity of this matter, we had three siblings from our family dying on the same day as the avenging spirit wreaked havoc. You can imagine three coffins being paraded at our homestead at the same time. This was just painful as our siblings succumbed to the same ailment. They all complained of headaches. They later started nose-bleeding and within a few hours we heard that they had passed on,” explained Eliah (Jnr) to the court.
He told the court that his biggest fear was that he was next on the death list since his father is unmoved in their quest to have the avenging spirit appeased.
Proud said their father was excommunicated from their church after he was fingered for being the hand behind the calamities befalling the family.
“He was a prophet in the church and when people started dying, other prophets ordered him to confess and repent, but he refused, resulting in him being excommunicated from the church,” he said.
He also said they are also up in arms with other siblings as they are siding with their parents. During the court session, Marangwanda’s spirit manifested through Sekuru Bhasikiti and narrated how he met Maponde and how he was murdered.
The spirit also explained that after the exhumation, Mildred came at night in the company of a traditional healer and collected the remains. She threw them in a nearby river.
“I was a freedom fighter and was based at Nyadzonia Camp at the time of independence. In 1982, I decided to cross back into Zimbabwe and that is when I met Maponde who employed me at his shop for a year.
“In 1983, he murdered me, took my private parts and used them for rituals together with my head which he keeps in his shop in Nyanyadzi. My other remains were buried in a toilet at his homestead. You all saw my remains when I was exhumed from the toilet,” said Marangwanda through Sekuru Bhasikiti who was in a trance. Marangwanda demanded five beasts from the Maponde family as an appeasement for the avenging spirit. He said he would lead the Maponde and Marangwanda families to where his remains are after the paying of the five beasts. Chief Marange explained how Eliah (Snr) confessed killing Marangwanda during the first court session when Sekuru Bhasikiti exhumed the remains.
“He paid the admission of guilty fine and asked for time to meet his family and chart the way forward. He never came back and he thumped his nose at several summons we sent to him to appear before this court. We have enlisted the services of the police because justice should prevail. He admitted to have committed murder and the law should take its course. He should attend my court session from remand prison,” said Chief Marange.
He instructed his aides to drag Elia, his wife and three children to his court.
This, however, did not happen as Sekuru Bhasikiti demanded his dues before further rendering his services to the Maponde family.
Sekuru Bhasikiti left for Honde Valley, while the chief adjourned the matter to a later date. He said the matter will only continue after the brothers pay the traditional healer.
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