A mysterious fire has gutted more than 30 homesteads at a settlers’ village, Ledbury Farm in Matepatepa in Bindura.
In the absence of a solid explanation, in the absence of
evidence of the source and indeed in the absence of science, the villagers find
themselves pointing fingers at each other and obviously, in times like these,
accusations of dabbling in witchcraft thrive.
Desperate villagers, there, are now looking for answers
everywhere from prophets to the occult and to God, but the answer is just not
there.
The village is now agog with speculation that someone is
using Sandawana, a goblin believed to bring good fortune to one person at the
expense of others.
Although the fire which started on June 27 at Torero
compound has subsided after close to a month of burning, women and children are
still sleeping in the open fearing that the remaining grass-thatched huts might
catch the fire while they sleep.
So desperate are some of the villagers that they have
resorted to removing the grass thatch from their huts to protect their
property.
When this reporter got there, the situation at the compound
was eerie and profound, the charcoal, the shells of the burnt down houses, the
smells and everything else pointed to a disaster.
Sitting outside a thatched kitchen, Amai Chipo was quick to
point out that it was not her homestead, but she was guarding her friend who
was cooking inside, in case of the fire.
“We are friends and when she is done cooking she will come
to my kitchen and guard outside while I cook. We are taking turns to guard each
other,” she said.
“This has become our way of life now. Even when we are
bathing in our grass built bathrooms, we are now guarding each other to avoid
casualties.”
Describing the fire, she said it a ‘silent’ fire which
starts at the rooftop inside the house and only identified when the house is
already engulfed
Village head Mr Antony Chipandire said the immediate need
of the affected families are tents so that they have shelter.
“However our major
need is for the problem to be solved. We were resettled at this farm in 2001
and we have never witnessed such an incident. This is a mysterious event and we
are appealing for help to have the problem solved,” he said.
“I was in Mbire on a work-related trip when I received a
call that houses were mysteriously burning down. I cut short my trip and came
back home.
“I went to Chief Negomo’s homestead to inform him of the
events and he called a spirit medium who said one of the community members used
sandawana juju for money making rituals.
“The Chief gave us people to perform traditional rituals at
the compound. The following day prophets who were sent by the Chief arrived and
said they were afraid to point at the culprits without adequate security. “A
lot of prophets volunteered to assist us. We received prophets who came through
the radio and I was made to collect ashes at every burnt down house and put
them in a clay pot. That was the longest night of my life.”
Mr Chipandire said
after two days, the prophet came back and cleansed the pot saying the problem
was solved.
“They raised the cleaned clay pot and started praying until
smoke came out of the pot. They smashed the pot and said they had solved the
problem. Before they left the compound a grass precast wall caught fire and
afterwards another house caught fire,” he said.
“We decided to approach Chief Masembura and he did some
rituals. The problem subsided for two day and the fire started again. We went
back to the Chief and he summoned spirit mediums who said some people in the
community have used juju.
“The spirit medium performed some rituals and for now the
fire has subdued for four days now. A
lot of rumours are going round in the compound with some saying the first fire
victims are the juju culprits, these are just rumours.”
He thanked their legislature Cde Kenneth Musanhi for
providing blankets and grain to the affected families.
He said the first victims lost all their property and grain
to the fire, before the donation of grain and blankets to the affected
families.
If the rumours in the compound are anything to go by, one
of the suspects allegedly obtained juju from his father-in-law to grow his
flock of ducks. Others say, an unknown man visited the
compound last year demanding a top-up of money to those he had given juju to
because he was about to die.
Some are saying hyena ‘laugh” were heard in the compound. The
A1 farm was resettled to 73 plot holders in 2001.
The compound which harbours about 90 households is home to
immigrants from Malawi and Mozambique as well as locals who were farm workers
prior to the land reform.
The village development committee chairperson Mr Earnest
Chasvika said, “We have three compounds at this farm but we haven’t witnessed
such an incident. However, this community has people from diverse backgrounds
and cultures.
“We are puzzled and living in fear. We don’t know the cause
of the fires, initially we thought it was acts of arson but we realised it was
a mystery.
“The Environmental Management Agency visited the compound
and up now there is no solution in sight.”
We caught up with one of the victims Farai Chigumbura at
Foothills clinic who said he was taking his Covid-19 vaccine following a break
in the fires.
The father of one said he lost household property, cash and
grain in the fire. “We are sleeping in the open due to fear. We are appealing
for tents to shelter children and women since it is cold.
“We are hearing that someone used juju but it is now
backfiring. We have our suspects but prophets are coming and never returning to
the compound,” he said.
As to the future of this compound, only time will tell. Herald
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