STRANGER THAN FICTION: Bocha’s magical Robin Hood

Marange, or Bocha, is a semi-arid strip of rugged terrain sandwiched between the Save and Odzi rivers in Manicaland.

It drew global attention when diamonds were discovered in Chiadzwa, igniting a rush that attracted people from far away lands.

The Johane Marange Apostolic Church traces its roots to Mafararikwa Village, again in Bocha where the church is headquartered.

Yearly, Mafaririkwa hosts thousands of congregants from across the globe who flock to the Johane Marange Shrine for the church’s Passover.

Similarly, people from Buhera, Chipinge and Chimanimani camped at the homestead of one Mujima of Masvaure Village in the late 1970s.

The only difference is these congregants and dealers did not want diamonds or spiritual healing, but for Mujima to sell them items he would have stolen from them — magically!

Hardly a successful businessman, Mujima was an infamous housebreaker who many believed possessed magical powers.

Though his tale has always been known, the community have for years kept it pretty much under wraps fearing “supernatural visitations”.

Nowadays the older folk do not miss the opportunity to tell such an intriguing tale.

Ninety-year-old Sekuru Johani Phillimon Kayiboni says Mujima could hypnotise his victims and make off with their clothes and groceries.

He could also become “invisible” and evade Rhodesian police, or so the story goes.

Sekuru Kayiboni of Odzi recounts, “In the late 1970s, I operated a grocery shop at Nyanyadzi Business Centre. One night, as I was in bed in a room at the back of the shop, I was awakened by a tap on the door. Before I could jump out of bed and investigate the source of the noise, I suddenly fell into deep slumber.

“In that dream-like state, I saw two men entering the room and rummaging through my valuables. I clearly saw them looting, but I was powerless. One of the men even took the money that I kept under my pillow.

“When I finally became fully awake, I discovered the room and the shop had been ransacked. To my horror, one of the burglars had actually defecated on the floor!”

Sekuru Kayiboni says he immediately profiled the suspect — Mujima.

It was, according to Sekuru Kayiboni, Mujima’s modus operandi to hypnotise, loot and defecate at the crime scene.

Others say Mujima graduated to breaking into wholesale shops in Mutare and Chipinge.

He and his gang even devised ways of evading Rhodesian forces who regularly imposed curfews and mounted roadblocks, by simply “breezing” past the police without them seeing him.

Mujima remains a folk anti-hero and legend of sorts.

“Although he was a notorious thief, to me Mujima was a hero. He stole from the rich to feed the poor. He sold his loot cheaply and the community benefited a lot.

“He was kind and very generous and the liberation war fighters also benefited from his generosity,” says Sekuru Nevison Chapeyama, who at one point lived in Masvaure Village.

Acting on a tip-off, Rhodesian police busted him at his hide-out in 1979.

Sekuru Kayiboni says apart from the loot, which needed two lorries to ferry to the nearest police station, several bucketfuls of cash were found stashed in one of Mujima’s secret compartments.

The infamous housebreaker died in 1980.

Sekuru Friday Chisanyu, a traditional healer and president of the Zimbabwe National Practitioners says juju is behind such adventures.

“This type of magic is mixed with the water that would have been used to clean dead people in mortuaries. As for the people who can become invisible to the ordinary eye, this practice is called “chipofu” and was commonly practised by people from Binga and Chipinge.”