adminAbel Zhakata Senior Reporter
VILLAGERS in Zimunya – just outside Mutare – are escorting their children to school following a spate of ritual murders that have dogged the community in recent weeks.
So tense is the situation that a total of six headmen from the Chitora area summoned their subjects last Thursday to deal head on with the murders that have ravaged the community.
Last week, a mutilated body of a 12-year-old boy who had left home for school was found on the banks of Murare River.
Langton Musere had left home for school but he did not return on time resulting in his stepfather, Reuben Mapureni, and his mother, Tsverukai Ganyaupfu, embarking on a search.
They visited his school and were told that their son never attended school on the day in question.
However, on March 7 a villager, Knowledge Charowedzera, saw the corpse of the missing boy along the river, which was already in a state of decomposition.
It was a sorry sight as some body parts were missing. These included the left side of the hip, genitals, mouth, teeth, tongue, heart, fingers and hair.
Headman Nyamani, Mr Blessing Zimunya, in whose area the no-holds-barred meeting was conducted, said Langton’s murder was a callous act that left the whole community weak-kneed.
“Late last year a Four 3 pupil was also killed for ritual purposes in the same area.
“Up to now, no one has been arrested over the murders and villagers are now living in constant fear of what tomorrow might bring.
“They are spending sleepless nights, waking up early in the morning to escort their children to school because they know not when the criminals will pounce again.”
He said the meeting, which brought together more than 700 villagers, was meant to find lasting solutions to the mystery murders.
Before the meeting began, some villagers wept uncontrollably as Langton’s gruesome murder was still fresh in their minds. It was a sorry gathering full of emotions and grief.
Traditional leaders had a torrid moment to calm the villagers.
Headman Nyamani said the community cannot continue to live in fear because of heartless criminals who are murdering innocent children to enhance their businesses.
He said it was high time the villagers worked with the police to bring down culprits who are committing the crimes.
“We cannot stand by and watch our children getting murdered in broad daylight. We have to work with the police and report those whom we suspect to have committed the murder.
“The truth is that the people who did this are well known and we must not protect them. They must be exposed and made to answer the charges,” he said.
The headman said as traditional leaders they will also use traditional methods to fish out the culprits.
“We are pooling our resources so that will send our people and the Musere family to traditional healers who will tell us what happened.
“We want to get to the bottom of these murders.”
Headman Amos Makunike said the murders were painful.
“We cannot have our children being killed like chickens. We have to do something quick and arrest the situation.”
Headman Mutengere was at a loss for words to explain the rate at which the murders were occurring in the area.
“This is not right. We want to do our traditional rituals and expose everything because this is just too much. We need to solve this as a community. We will all die if we leave things like this to happen. These acts have brought bad omen to this community as the rains are not falling as they used to. The heavens are angry with what is happening and we have to fight till the end.”
Member-in-charge of Muromo Police Post, Assistant Inspector Chitanda, said homicide detectives were investigating Langton’s murder.
He said with the help of the community the police will apprehend those behind the crimes.
“These things are happening in the community you live in and in most cases you give us clues and provide useful information to apprehend these culprits. Those with suspects must give us names. If you hide information from us it makes our work difficult. There is what is known as citizen’s arrest. We must have a culture of helping the police and not just fold your arms because these crimes greatly affect your livelihood.”
The gathering was left grieved when one of the Musere family members chronicled the disappearance of the child and how his corpse was mutilated by his killers.
She gave a graphic presentation of the corpse which had its mouth removed, some teeth missing; tongue removed and how the culprits cut open his back to remove the heart.
From her narrations, the boy had his organs removed while he was alive consistent with marks all over his body that showed that he struggled for his life.
His genitals were also removed as well as some fingers.
Online Reporter