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Temba Dube Senior Reporter
RESIDENTS of a Bulawayo suburb claim a ghost has become a crime fighter in their neighbourhood — in-between chatting up women.
The dreadlocked, amorous phantom is the talk of Magwegwe suburb, which is separated by a road from Hyde Park Cemetery.The “ghost”, say several witnesses, introduces itself as Bongani and for several minutes appears human, but then suddenly vanishes.
In a country where witchcraft is mainstream discourse, Magwegwe residents and neighbouring communities in Lobengula Extension and Pelandaba swear Bongani is real.
Some residents claim the ghost is a woman’s best friend after rescuing several damsels in distress, including a woman who was being gang-raped by four men last November.
The strange creature, residents say, does not talk to men.
Local resident Beatrice Moyo, 26, told Chronicle yesterday: “A woman who lived about two houses away from ours was attacked by four men one night. They dragged her into the cemetery with the intention of gang-raping her.
“They were about to rape her when they saw a flash of light from a distance. When the light appeared again, it was very close to them and the figure of a dreadlocked man became visible. They all shouted that it was a ghost and fled.”
Moyo said the story set the suburb abuzz when the woman told friends the next day.
“It spread like wildfire, although some people did not believe it. The woman is now at her rural home in Filabusi. Only those of us who have had encounters with the ghost believed her.”
Nobuhle Hlatshwayo, 71, said she had a brush with the ghost in 2011.
“I was coming from Botswana and I arrived around 1AM on Christmas Eve. I saw a well-built dreadlocked man who was dressed in white. He offered to help me carry my luggage. He said he was Bongani and was polite and very charming. I let him carry my bags,” said Hlatshwayo.
“As we were talking, we met one of my neighbours. I turned to introduce the Rasta but he had disappeared leaving my bags on the ground.”
She said friends later told her that Bongani was a ghost who proposed love to women, and then disappeared. Several sightings have been reported at the robot-controlled intersection of Siyephambili Drive and Old Khami Road, near Hyde Park Cemetery.
Hlatshwayo added: “I’m happy because this ghost will end prostitution that is rife among our children. Ungakhomba isipoko ngeke uphinde ulunge (You’ll never be normal again if you accept a love proposal from a ghost). What would a woman be doing outside late at night anyway?”
Pretty Nkomo, 41, also known as NaNikkie, said her mother-in-law saw Bongani at the intersection some years ago.
“She said it was dark and she was afraid of being robbed. When she saw the reassuring figure dressed in white, she decided to walk with it. She said no mater how much she picked pace, the distance between her and the figure remained constant. It disappeared when she reached the gate to her home,” said Nkomo.
Allan Ndlovu, 41, who works at a service station in the city, said he saw the ghost twice about two years ago.
“I was employed at Delta then. The bus would drop us off late at the intersection and I saw this dreadlocked guy just standing there. He ignored me both times. The small hairs at the back of my neck bristled when I was told that I had actually walked within a few metres of a ghost,” said Ndlovu.
Another local man, Watson Mhlophe, 49, said he has heard his children talking about the ghost a number of times, while Nolwazi Mbuya, 31, said her husband had called her one night saying he had seen the ghost, but she was too scared to also go and see it.
Lobengula Extension councillor, Lillian Mlilo, said: “I’ve heard ghost stories in the area, but this particular one is new. The most famous was of Jane the ghost, who terrorised men in the late 1980s.”
David Mhabinyana Ngwenya, the president of the International Traditional Healers Association, who is also the vice-president of Traditional Medical Practitioners Council (TMPC), says ghosts do exist.
Bongani, he said, is “ithonga” in Ndebele, a type of ghost that appears in human form.
“It’s normally someone who died a sudden death. The spirit would be lost between this world and the next and may not actually know it is dead. Generally, it is harmless and people may only get injured running away from it,” said Ngwenya.
He said stories about such ghosts had often been related in the same area, probably because of its proximity to a cemetery.
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