Blessing Nyanyiwa (27) a daughter–in-law to the Manyanga
family and her three-year-old daughter Ropafadzo were the latest victims of the
grim reaper.
The cause of these deaths remains a mystery, with most of
the deceased said to have complained of a sore throat before passing on.
The family is affiliated to the Johane Marange apostolic
sect, famed for shunning modern medical systems.
NewsDay Weekender this week travelled to Nyamakate to get
firsthand information on the calamity that has befallen the Manyanga family.
The family spokesperson Luke Manyanga at first became
evasive saying the family was still grieving and was not entertaining the
media.
However, with the aid of Chief Chundu, real name Abel
Mbasera, and village head Agrippa Mapisaunga, one of the family members Gladman
Manyanga (35) later opened up on the issue.
As young as he is, Gladman has lost two wives, three
children, a niece, a nephew and a close relative to one of his wives.
A member of the Johane Marange apostolic sect, Gladman is a taxi driver in the border town of Chirundu. He is now left with six wives following the death of two others.
Gladman was reluctant to entertain some of the questions
posed to him.
“Some of what you have heard is not true. Some people are
just fabricating stories. It's normal that people get sick and die but what is
being said that they died because of a mysterious disease is not true. Some of
them had some other ailments not sore throats as alleged by rumour mongers,” he
said.
Asked whether the deceased had visited a health facility,
Gladman refused to respond.
He even denied the news crew access to the family graveyard
where the deceased were buried.
Village head Mapisaunga said the community was still in
shock over the mysterious deaths.
“It is not normal to lose such a number from the same
family in less than a month,” Mapisaunga said.
The family has been in continuous mourning for nearly a
month without any knowledge as to when this sad episode will pass.
Chief Chundu said he has since engaged the Health ministry
to intervene and help stop any further loss of life.
“I want to advise those who do not respect other people's
rights that each individual has his or her right to health, so we are worried
as leaders when we have some churches that craft their own constitutions that
are not aligned to the Constitution of Zimbabwe. We want people to shun such
church doctrines.
"When one is not feeling well, he or she should be
taken to hospital for medication and by doing this, we are saving lives,” he
said.
He added: “This family lost nine members due to a disease,
they had the same symptoms and no one of them even dared to visit the hospital.
Some of these diseases are treatable. With immediate effect, as the chief of
this area, I will arrest anyone who does not respect his or her right to health
or any member of the family or community who does not respect his relative's
right to health.”
While many are wondering about these happenings, a lot of
conspiracy theories have been thrown around, but what remains as a fact is that
the jaws of death have visited the Manyanga family.
As it stands, no one in the family knows who is next and
when the chain of mysterious deaths will abate.
Losing nine members within a month is taking a
psychological toll on both the surviving members and villagers.
And worse still, the family has lost 35 members since 1989
and who knows, all could be the result of the church doctrine.
For Gladman, losing seven family members including wives
and children within a short space of time has not been easy, but he has not
bothered to find the cause. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment