'Tortoise urine can make one live longer'

...as a Silobela centurion divulges his secret of living a long life

Sekuru Johannes Gumbo who will be turning 101 years this year in October has his small trick for living long.  This trick was a closely guarded secret by him and it is clear that he had no intention of telling anyone up to his death bed. But as fate would have it, when the Jairos Jiri Silobela Centre was preparing for a visit by some well-wishers, the closely guarded secret was to be revealed.

Sekuru Johannes’ room at the Centre is not that tidy and on this day the Jairos Centre Manager, Mrs. Agnes Mapako wanted to see all the rooms sparkling clean and she decided to go it alone in this old man’s room. And there the secret stared her in the face.

“As I was cleaning, I saw a round tin with a lid and inside it contained a very common creature - a tortoise. The tin had sand in it and some food which I suspect had been meant for its feeding. I was shocked by what I saw to the extent that I had to scream. 

"I had never seen such a thing in my entire life. I thought it could be harmful to other occupants. I then quizzed the old man about this tortoise,” she said.

Mrs. Mapako said Sekuru Johannes described it as his pet. Just like others liked cats and dogs, Sekuru Johannes wanted a tortoise as his own pet.

“I further quizzed him and threatened him that I would evict him if he did not disclose why he kept it. That is when the old man let go of his secret. He told me that to live longer, you drink the urine of the animal,” said Mrs. Mapako.

My colleague and I had to arrange another day to have an exclusive interview with Sekuru Johannes to get an insight on his way of life which seemed so weird.

As we planned for the journey, Mrs Mapako hinted that Sekuru Johannes is a very secretive man and does not want to release information to strangers easily. He referred to them as ‘foreigners’.

The day before we arrived at the centre, Mrs. Mapako appraised us that Sekuru Johannes had gotten angry when she had told him that there were people who were coming to talk to him. She said he told her that she must learn to keep quiet if she happens to see something in life.

We pondered on this because we would not return to Harare without pinning Sekuru Johannes to an exclusive interview. The newsmen had to be innovative. We had to find out what Sekuru Johannes liked.

The news crew later learnt that Sekuru Johannes liked drinks, cream biscuits, and snuff. These, we bought at Loreto Shopping Centre on our way to meet our target.

The first person we met on arrival was Sekuru Johannes himself and he ran to meet us and gave us warm hugs. He had remembered us from our previous visit at the end of January this year. At least we were no longer aliens to the old man and we had a breakthrough.

Mrs. Mapako was to take us to Sekuru Johannes for the proper interview but first we had to give him our small parcel. That was the tonic that we needed to manage to pin him down. Yes, Sekuru Johannes agreed to talk to us but remained unfathomable and hesitant.

Sekuru Johannes does not speak clearly and cannot make a complete sentence but with the assistance of Mrs. Mapako, we were able to talk to him.

He revealed that drinking tortoise urine indeed makes one live longer but he has no explanation as to how that happens. He also confesses he used to have a tortoise that he kept but said he had let it go after Mrs. Mapako saw it.

But something in us told us he still has the creature.

Asked how many times one has to take the urine, Sekuru Johannes said that only once was enough. He says he had taken it when he was still a young boy. This was however conflicting statements with the information that he had told Mrs. Mapako.

To Mrs. Mapako, the old man had indicated that he collects parts of the sand where the tortoise will have urinated and mixes that with water and drinks it occasionally. 

As a way of trying to make him take us to his room where we would take images of the creature, we insisted that we wanted also to drink the tortoise urine so that we also live long. Sekuru Johannes was evasive saying that he will have to hunt for one and inform the centre manager to contact us.

“But Sekuru please give us some tortoise urine,” we ask. “Tiri vazukuru venyu vanoda kudzidza uye kurarama sezvamaita chingotipaiwo tinwewo,” we plead.

“Ndichatsvaga ndikaiwana ndokudaidzai,” assures Sekuru Johannes.

We later went to his room but he would not let us in. He led the way but blocked us from entering. A hasty glance into the room we saw a hodgepodge of wares loll haphazardly in the room but we wouldn’t know where the creature stayed.

Though we could not get him into showing us his secret possession, we learnt a lot from our interface with Sekuru Johannes as he showed his cosmic familiarity on a variety of issues and nature which can help people in their lives. As he narrates the information he tells us to take some notes down promising us to give us more on our return.

According to the information we got from the centre, Sekuru Johannes was born on the 13^th of October 1913 and has been at the Silobela Old People’s Home since 1972. He came at the home deaf and dumb though he is capable of hearing now. According to people interviewed at this centre, Sekuru Johannes had confided in them that he had treated himself of dumbness after pouring animal fat drawn from a monitor lizard aka Mupurwa in Shona or uXamu in IsiNdebele in his ears.

That’s the life of Sekuru Johannes who today is still as fit as a fiddle. He does not look like a centurion. He has not lost his boyish gait and still has his teeth save for two front ones. He can walk unaided and can go to the grinding mill seven kilometres away with buckets of maize meal.

Sekuru Johannes is a known figure at Loreto Shopping Centre as he occasionally frequents some joints at the centre in search of his opaque beer.

 “We know Sekuru Johannes very well and he is also a regular here,” said one Alick Meki an artisanal miner who became a friend with the newsmen at Bravolands Complex.

The other side of Sekuru is that he is in love with bush life and spends his time in the bush where he goes hunting and brings at the home a lot of stuff from the bush for his consumption. He sometimes goes to catch fish at a nearby river which he shares with others or at times picks a variety of mushrooms.

Sekuru Johannes is the current head of the home (Sabhuku) and Mrs. Mapako describes him as someone who is not selfish and gives constructive advice to others.

He was born in Ngaone in Chipinge District of Manicaland Province but there is no information on how he got there.

Tortoises are considered the longest-living vertebrates on Earth. One of their oldest known representatives was Harriet, a Galápagos tortoise that died of heart failure at the age of 175 years in June 2006 at a zoo owned by the late Steve Irwin. Harriet was considered the last living representative of Darwin’s epic voyage on the HMS Beagle. An Aldabra giant tortoise named Adwaita died at the rumored age of 250 in March 2006, according to www.mnn.com.

So when you want to be a centurion, why don’t you try tortoise urine? 

Inside the life of the headline making twins

By Robert Zvidza

A pair of identical twins recently made headlines when they wedded in style with another set of identical twins at a colourful ceremony held at St Peters United Methodist Church in Chitungwiza. The ceremony ended with a reception at the giant Aquatic Complex in the dormitory town.

Hundreds witnessed the stylish twins mimicking the routine marriage vows one after the other, promising each other heaven on earth and a union that would last till death parted them. They even watched the best men prepare the groom for the most cherished moments by the attendees - unmasking the veiled faces and plucking their lips on their elegant brides with a thousand eyeballs almost dropping from their sockets to catch every action. It is amazing how people love this episode.

It was official; the pair had become husband and wife.

Mayor Tendai and Lawyer Farai Katonha (30) both employed by the ZRP were joined in holy matrimony with Nvette Tinenyasha and Yvette Nyasha Neshamba (19) respectively in glitz and glamour at a ceremony whose bridal team comprised a set of twins. To add to that, the ceremony was also presided upon by the pastor who was also a twin. Interestingly, the couples were also born in the same month of August.

This writer was there amidst the anxiety, jubilation and admiring crowd and visited the pair at a later date to find out their life style and how they had been drawn to each other like the moon draws the tide.

Shaking off the shackles of bachelorhood was such an easy exercise for the two gentlemen a thing that many always want to hold on to. Soon after their deserved honeymoon in Victoria Falls in Matebeleland North where they spent a night at Victoria Falls Hotel and several nights at Mutarazi Falls in Nyanga, they abandoned their bachelor residence in Chitungwiza for their new home – a spaciously built up stand they acquired from Manyame Rural District Council at Murisa Business Centre (Chivabva) in the outskirts of Chitungwiza near Ziko.

At their house, Nvette cuddles comfortably close to Mayor while on the other end Lawyer and Yvette share a settee warmly. Life of these newly wedded twins is so intriguing such that hours just snail past until dusk arrives with the huff and puff of the rush hour. I wished I could have stayed longer.

“We built the house in 2011 when we were still bachelors and we had built it in such a way that we would stay here together even after we marry. We had told ourselves that we did not want to miss each other.”

The house comprises a Dining Room and Lounge, two identical bedrooms (same measurements and designs) for each of them, a spare room and a kitchen.

“When we married, both our parents suggested that each of our wives have her own kitchen basing on the traditional beliefs that it’s difficult for two women to share the same kitchen. But we are happy our wives approved of the setting after we asked them what they liked,” said Mayor, the more talkative of the two.

“We must say we are happy we married twins because they understand how it feels otherwise we could have had problems had we done it otherwise,” chips in Lawyer. “That’s what we always wanted since our days at school.”

Yvette takes over: “It was not going to work to make us have two kitchens because one would simply not cook because she will always look for the other. We always do things together even fetching water we go together. Even if one is sent for an errand, we always go together.”

During their early years, it is said that their parents tried to separate the two girls but they always had problems ranging from illnesses and depression.

“If one was not feeling well, the other, wherever she was, would also suffer from the same ailment. The illness would only end when they are brought together. Since the sixth grade in 2008 until now we have never been apart from each other. We wear the same clothing and the same colours,” she said.

As for their husbands, Mayor and Lawyer, their parents also tried to separate them when they were in grade four in vain. The separation only lasted for a year.

Several intervening events always occurred simultaneously when they were apart.

While staying apart, we got detained with the same ailment on the same day. But a more tragic event that occurred on 19 April 2004 remains vivid in their minds.

“I was traveling in Rose Motorways Bus in Mudzi and I got involved in an accident and my twin was also involved in an accident on the same day while travelling in a ZUPCO Bus in Mutoko. We were both hunting for Form five and six vacancies on the day. That event even shocked our parents that they didn’t want us to travel again,” said Lawyer.

They took time to explain how they met their wives during a United Methodist Church Camp for youths in Marondera in June 2013.

“I believe there is some connection that is there in spirit amongst twins,” explains Lawyer adding, “Sometimes when I travel alone, it is most common that the person that I get much close to will be a twin. I also feel it in me when something happens to my twin.

“So when I first met Yvette, I did not know that she was a twin, and almost at that same time, my twin (Mayor) was also meeting Nvette. It is because at the youth camp, we would be put in different groups during discussions and we happened to be in different groups with my twin and so were our wives. In that instance, we connected and exchanged numbers just like brothers and sisters,” added Lawyer.

Mayor takes over narration: “When we finally decided to propose love to them, we just told each other that when we go and see them in Marondera, the person whom anyone of us greets first is the one we will propose to. Of course, after several tries we were finally loved.”

“It only took us three months to prepare for the wedding. After paying lobola on 28 December 2013, we had our first wedding preparatory meeting on the 2^nd of March 2014 and we wedded on the 31^st of May 2014,” he said.

Asked whether they did not confuse their wives, Mayor told this publication they would confuse especially on the phone as their voices were similar and confessed that they still face the dilemma to date though the same cannot be said of the ladies whom he said they had never experienced that predicament despite the two being so identical.

Nvette and Yvette are so identical save for the fact that Yvette is slightly shorter than the other and as for Mayor and Lawyer one cannot note any difference until when they speak. Lawyer has a slight lisp in his speech (chirimi).

“Most people have confused us but we have gotten used to it and we brief each other of how we will have worked during the day,” said Mayor adding that they were happy that their workmates now understood them better.

Traditional beliefs have always suggested that the twin who is born last is the older of the two but this interview failed to get an answer.

“We are the same there is no one older than the other,” says Yvette the most extrovert between the ladies. “We know there may be hours between our conception but it is said we cried after the second child was born. Saka hapana mukuru takafanana,” she quips.

But for their husbands, theirs is a different story.

“At birth, we were told that some cloths (yellow and white) were tied on our wrists to determine first and second twin but somehow those who were taking care of us removed them sighting that it would look like they were being ritualistic. That confused it all to the extent that even our names were shifted between us several times. So we don’t even know who came first,” said Mayor.

Mayor and Lawyer grew up in Mudzi District under Village Chikumo in Chief Nyamukoho’s area in Mashonaland East Province where they also attended school up to Advanced Level. They were beneficiaries of a scholarship by the then Member of Parliament for Mudzi, Ray Kaukonde from Form One up to Form Six. Their wives grew up in Marera Village, Chief Svosve, Marondera, and attended Dhirihori Primary and Secondary Schools.

The two enterprising twins are already looking forward to fulfilling their dreams of studying law and one day graduating as lawyers as one of their names suggest.

“We have a passion for law and one day we will pursue it. We would also want to empower our wives and make them find something to do,” they echoed.

Multiple births - twins, triplets or quadruplets - in some traditions have caused alarm and apprehension because of several myths and practices have been related to them.

According to Historian, Pathisa Nyathi in his book; Zimbabwe’s Cultural Heritage (2008), Twins used to face similar prejudices and misconceptions to albinos, physically challenged children and those who cut the upper teeth first.

Others believed twins were not ordinary; they were unusually sharp and clever while others suggested they possessed special powers from God.

While other twins make headlines for wrong reasons like the forgotten Fichani twins, who made headlines for going about semi-naked in kilt skins, others are an epitome of excellence, and exemplary behaviour.

Zim Dancehall: A cocktail of the good and the bad things

Dancehall, a popular type of music originated in the late 70s in Jamaica as a result of varying political and socio-economic factors has found roots in our own Zimbabwe particularly in high-density suburbs, otherwise known as ghettos. Such suburbs are believed to be hotbeds of violence and other social ills, apart from being traditionally populated by society’s poor. This genre has cut across age groups threatening to overtake the other genres in the country.

In the years gone by, celebrating Christmas at my rural home was not complete without having gone to the township and glide to the Sungura hits played at the townships.

Sounds of the late Sungura gurus - Leonard Dembo, System Tazvitya, Tongai Moyo, Pengaudzoke and self-proclaimed King of Sungura Alick Macheso among others - would keep revelers serenading the whole day.

However, over the past two years, the situation is a different one. It’s the popular clichés – Po po po, Hauite hauite hauite, Check check check - that have become national anthems at growth points or in kombis and personal vehicles and is sending youths and the old alike into delirium.

Believe me you, the sprouting of this genre has come as a source of income for many and has transformed many lives. Many have changed their lives simply by venturing into music in proverbial rags to riches stories. Thirteen old dancehall musician, Nyasha Reginald Mano “Ras Pompy”, who is a form one student at Morgan High School in Arcadia is looking after his family after the death of his father and he is reportedly making a cool US$2,000.00 per month on live shows. The youthful musician has already traveled far and wide on singing business, the latest being to the UK last month.  Besides, he has won himself a scholarship from Borrowdale Brooke Academy as part of their community programme for disadvantaged but talented children.

A former tout Killer T now makes out a living through music after having to make small money from shouting at rank soliciting for customers. There are a lot more artists whose stories are hewn from the famous rags to riches libretto.

Forget all the monies involved and the good side of this new industry, controversies seem to follow the artists everywhere like flies are attracted trash. Endless feuds, fights, dirty lyrics, diss songs and drug abuse are a common phenomenon with these artists.

What is also more worrying is the fact the violence has also spread to the fans where several camps have erupted which have been created along which hood they come from. Of note is the Mbare Massive Crew, Danger Zone from Dzivarasekwa, and other groups from various ghettos including Chitungwiza. At some gigs, missiles have been thrown at performing artists by their opposing fans. At one of the gigs held at the Harare Gardens music promoter, Partson Chimbodza of Chipaz Promotions, had to erect a fence in which artists would perform without being disturbed by missile throwing fans.

Just click on the internet or grab any magazine and you will see news awash on the happenings in the Zim Dancehall camps which make a sad reading.

Talented Zim Dancehall and chanters – Seh Calaz and Quonfuzed - have been involved in nasty fights not only once but several times after clashing over women. The first incident occurred at the Harare gardens during the Soul Jah Love and Bounty Lisa Engagement Party. It is reported that it was Quonfuzed who punched the Mabhanditi hitmaker. While everybody thought that the two had gotten over their beef when they apologised for their brawl in the public glare, Seh Calaz went for a revenge mission and with his crew, assaulted Quonfuzed with a golf club in the avenues last month leading to his arrest.

In a more embarrassing situation, Soul Jah Love and Seh Calaz are reported to have chosen to show their barbaric acts in the Queen’s land when they are said to have had a burst up while in London during tour early this year.

Killer T, another revered chanter is said to have also assaulted another fellow youthful chanter – Mabvuku based Platinum Prince over a song which the former thought was directed at him. But surprisingly, the musician was recently quoted denouncing the violence between the dancehall artists.

Many hits by these musicians have either a dig at another artist or they are glorifying violence or worse still have explicit lyrics.

Away from fistfights and off stage wrestling, drugs have been also part of the controversy that bedevils our artists. Soul Jah Love has also been in the papers after being caught smoking marijuana as if smoking a cigar. Much of the banned staff was recovered on his person. Besides, news has it that his fall out with his promoter Courage Zikhali.

The cited examples are just a tip of the iceberg as more feuds are always being reported in the papers always.

But one Dancehall fan interviewed by this magazine, Elvis Matema of Manyame Park believes the feuds are an important part of Dancehall music.

“If there were no feuds there would be no Dancehall music. It is these controversies that make the genre interesting. In Jamaica, there are also similar feuds which are characteristic of our local dancehall,” he said.

But many music critics, promoters, artists both local and visiting artists from Jamaica who are perceived as the pacesetters in the genre,  have also denounced violence in the behaviour  has been roundly condemned as it cements stereotypes of dancehall artists as disorderly and ill-mannered.

Jamaican Dancehall star – Turbulence - real name Sheldon Ryan Augustus Campbell, who was in the country for the King of Dancehall Concert held in December last year at a local bar slammed rivalry and violence characterising Zim Dancehall at the moment during an interview with a local daily. 

Turbulence said war in local dancehall was unnecessary and called for an end to the “beef” and superfluous feuds.

“My message to the rival groups in Zimbabwe is that war is never a solution but communication is the key to unite and now is the time to live and let live and have as much as you can,” said Turbulence in that interview.

 He added: “There is not much we can do physically to stop the violence around the world. But we can sing uplifting music and tell the people that unity is better, much better than hate, segregation, and bloodshed.

 “Right now in Jamaica, all rival gangs like Gully and Gaza Empire are now united so there is only joy and laughter,” said Turbulence.

Another Jamaican scholar, Dr. Jahlani Niaah, speaking at a public discussion focusing on the theme “Rastafari, reggae and dancehall”, whose forum focused on Zimbabwean and Caribbean perspectives held early this year is said to have rapped dancehall saying the music portrayed cultural decay.

“Dancehall music can be also a portrayal of cultural decay amongst youths in the way it glorifies violence, promiscuity, and drug abuse in poor societies.”

He also added that the proliferation of sexual and physical abuse in ghettos and high density areas can be directly attributed to the rise of dancehall over original roots reggae music.

Despite the negative comments on the Zim dancehall artists and their conduct, others still believe they are yet to rule.

In an interview with a local paper late last year, Godfatha Templeman, believes that the genre is still to rule and will be bigger and better with time.

“Many companies are getting interested in dancehall music and it is a good sign for us. Many dancehall artistes have toured the UK this year,” he said.

Indeed many of the artistes have made inroads to the United Kingdom but many believe it is because of the number of Zimbabweans who are now residents in that part of the country.

Celebrated poet and musician, Albert Nyathi views Dancehall as an important factor in our lives but was quick to point out their shortcomings.

“I have no problem with this dancehall frenzy, it is a factor of life, let them be. It is good for our youth as well as good for diversity. But I am worried about their lyrics and I doubt if they can make it internationally. They need therefore to think well in terms of their lyrics if they intend to make it internationally. They should be original in nature and not to copy someone. There is no success if you copy other people,” he said

Professor Fred Zindi, a music guru and lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe has a different view on Zim Dancehall music.

“Dancehall artistes are like urban groovers or ghetto youths who are indeed acclimatised to dancehall music due to their exposure to the tens of Jamaican musicians who have visited Zimbabwe in the past five years and emulated by Zimbabwean artistes such as Winky D, Sniper Storm, Guspy Warrior, Dadza D and Killer T who have Shona versions of the same music, to mention just a few. Dancehall is borrowed music and in my opinion this phase will soon go.

“Sungura, in In my opinion, will never die, we have had it since the 1980s.The likes of Macheso, Jah Prayzah, Sulumani Chimbetu are more likely to survive longer because of their appeal to the majority of rural folk who are the majority of Zimbabweans,” he said.

He however urged Zimbabwean artists to be more creative if they are to advance the Dancehall genre to a different level.

On the contrary, the Sungura musicians also seem to be charmed by the dancehall genre.

Top Sungura artists - Macheso and Sulu - have announced that they are working on a dancehall tune together, which they will drop before the release of their respective albums. The two artists, during live shows, have been heard playing some dancehall tunes and shouting the popular chants.

Reclusive Kempton Mutambara secretly meets his demise

By Robert Zvidza recently in Cashel Valley

Kempton Wadawatsika Mutambara, a man from Cashel Valley who acquired celebrity status through his bizarre way of life, passed on in October last year after succumbing to an unknown illness which resulted in his legs swelling.

He was 67.

The late Kempton aka Kimpy, had been suffering from the disease since April 2014.

The fiery-tempered traditionalist is known for his creepy way of life which he began about four decades ago when he ostracized himself and the family from the generality of the society. He branded everyone including relatives and neighbours enemies and traitors.

Among his many other beliefs was the fact that he did not want his children to go to school in fear of them being taught ‘wild things’. “The best teacher of a child is his parents, in schools they are taught to be traitors,” he is quoted to have said during his lifetime.

He also did not attend any funerals, church and let alone go to the shops. This, he also inculcated into his children. He is also once quoted saying that if a member of the family dies, he or she will be buried by the other family members. That aside, it is the news surrounding his death that has left the community in awe.

Ever since the late Mutambara fell ill, it is said that he never visited any medical centre even hospital preferring to be helped by traditional healers around the area. This is despite the fact that Mutambara Mission Hospital is just three kilometers away from his place of residence. His illness was also never made public as it remained the family’s closely guarded secret.

It is alleged that after Kempton realized that his health was deteriorating, he invited his confidant and uncle - Romeo Muchabayetu of Guta Village Chief Mutambara, Chimanimani whom he advised that if he dies, only his family and he would bury him at his homestead and was not supposed to inform or invite anyone including other relatives and neighbours. It is said that Kimpton emphasized that the burial would be secret and only Muchabayetu, his sons and his wife should be presiding over the burial.

Sooner or later, Kempton died and his sons Matekenya and Madzirashe reported the incident to the police and later buried their father in unusual circumstances. No villager or other relatives were invited for the burial. This reporter took the trip to Cashel Valley to find how the family lived after the death of the father.

It seems they still believe in their father’s ideologies, though there is a slight change in their pattern of life and the way they dress. This follows some donation of clothing to the family by the local police who seem to have ways of communicating with them. Though there is this relationship with the police, the Officer-In-Charge Cashel Police, Inspector Godfrey Mafaka still regards them as being very unpredictable in nature.

The Community Relations and Liaison Officer (CRLO) at Cashel Valley, Sergeant Paul Hwengwere is tasked to take us to the man’s homestead. He admits that there was indeed a slight change as the family could now put on proper clothes and could walk to the police though on very few occasions when they need help.

"They used to be very militant in nature, wear animal skins, and used to carry bows and arrows,” he said.

When this news crew approached the homestead from the eastern side, the ever-alert Matekenya was to meet us and told us to go back from where we had entered and use another entrance to the western side of the homestead. This was even though we had already reached the homestead.

“Kana murikuuya pamusha uno nzira yamahambe nayo hatiibvumiriba. Hatingoda kuona tsoka dzevanhu ndawa pane zvepo zvatakatarisa. Dzokerai ngekwamabva ndiko mundopinda ngegan’a rekoko. (If you are coming to our homestead, we don’t allow people to use this route. Go back from where you are coming from and use the other entrance to the west),” said eldest of the Mutambara siblings, Matekenya, in a heavily quoted Manyika accent.

We obliged and made a beeline out of the field and had to walk another 15 minutes to reach the said entrance. As we reach the homestead, we are made to sit at an already prepared place and the other siblings lineup to greet us and sit directly opposite us. The atmosphere is so tense that a moment of silence ensures followed by introductions by the CRLO who is already known to the family through his numerous visits to the homestead. We are introduced and we tell them we have come to pay our condolences to the late “Chief” since we knew him from a published story of him in our magazine back in 1998.

Surprisingly, the family still remembers vividly the names of those journos who came at the homestead and the dates they came. After a few discussions we then live the intimidating homestead whose yard neatly secured with reeds. The huts bear different designs including the Great Zimbabwe Ruins and Pangolins among other art and messages.

We learnt that during his lifetime, Mutambara was married to his surviving wife, Tammary Mutsau Nezandonyi and sired 10 children namely Matekenya (male) aged 46 years, twins Mwadzirasha (male) and Mwazodaani (female) aged 43 years, Marwei (female), Zwatinewenyu (female), Kuzvinera (female), Mwadzirerutsa (female), Munyavhi (male), Mukorangebhachi (male), and the late Garamuchiziva (male).

Six of the older siblings stay at the homestead and are not married though they are of adult age while the other three are said to have been forcibly removed from the home by the Department of Social Welfare.

It all started in January 1998 when Mutambara is said to have seriously assaulted one of his children Garamuchiziva, whom he accused of being lazy. His child later succumbed to the serious assault and died at the homestead after a few days. He did not even seek medical treatment even though Mutambara Hospital is close to their homestead. The late son was buried at their homestead at a funeral which was only presided upon by the family. It is said that news leaked out to the police; and a month later somehow despite the family’s intensive security system, the young man’s corpse was exhumed.

Kempton Mutambara was charged with culpable homicide and spent a year in Mutare Prison, where he was released from jail in mid-1999. The social service office represented by Miss Connie Tobaiwa in the company of armed ZRP Cashel personnel later visited Kempton Mutambara with an assignment to remove other children from him fearing for their safety following the publicized story of him having killed his son.

Kempton was bitter about the move but he calmed down after realizing that the police personnel had with them some superior firepower. He reluctantly permitted them to remove the children Mukorangebhachi, Munyavhi, and Mwadzirerutsa. Mwadzirerutsa who was the eldest was sent for rehabilitation at the National Rehabilitation Centre (London Lodge) because of her age as she had just turned 18. Munyavhi was committed to the probation hostel in Mutare while Mukorangebhachi to Forward in Faith Children’s Home and he is currently at the school of preaching. Mwadzirerutsa later got married but is said to have been disowned by the late Mutambara for having defied her rules.

When her husband wanted to pay lobola to the father, they are said to have come to Cashel Police who accompanied them to the homestead but Kempton refused to accept the bride price saying that she was now an outcast. Police officers who happened to be there on the day said that the atmosphere was tense and the other girls and the mother even wanted to snatch their sister back.

Mwadzirerutsa was to make a comeback to her home this time to pay her last respects to her late father soon after his death and again sought help of the local police who accompanied her. She is said not to have reached the homestead after an altercation between her husband and the brother.

But what is it that triggered such weird and ancient type of living?

 In his interview with The Outpost in 1998, the late Mutambara said that problems began to emerge in 1971 and worsened in 1973.

“The then Melsetter (now Chimanimani) District Administrator, Mr. Peters in the company of Member-In-Charge of the then BSAP (now ZRP) Cashel, Section Officer Penfield arrived at our homestead and announced that the UDI government had decided to strip all chiefs of their chieftainship for collaborating with terrorists. The following day three police officers escorted some two men who collected his father’s chieftainship medals,” he is quoted to have said in an interview 17 years ago.

Kempton’s father got ill and passed away on the morning of July 20, 1974.

“Before he passed on that morning, my father summoned me and said to me, ‘my son Kempton, your father, I, Chief Matindike Mutambara, I am going but keep on fighting and repossess my throne stolen from me, but remember to bury me in my homestead and do not take me up the ‘Guhune or Guta Remadzishe’, a traditional burial site for the late Mutambara chiefs,” he is quoted in The Outpost 1998, February issue.

Thereafter, Kempton is said to have single-handedly buried his father at their homestead but when his mother and other relatives intensified the issue of exhuming the body of the late chief and bury it in the Guhune, Kempton decided to isolate himself because they were going against the Chief’s instruction.

He built his home in 1976 and remained pigeoned there and following his death late last year, it seems the children are carrying on with the tradition. They are still alienated from the other villagers and believe they were the people behind the death of their father. They still till their vast piece of land using bare hands, and use traditional ways of preparing maize meal. Their stock – chicken and goats are also kept in a way that they don’t mix with the rest in the village. The orchard has a variety of exotic and indigenous fruits thanks to the water canal dug way back in 1911 that passes close to the homestead and supplies water to then throughout the year.

Another problem is ensuring; the late Kempton is said to have been in Mutambara line of chieftainship hence his burial should not have been secret but should have been buried at a sacred place where those of the Mutambara Chieftainship lie buried this day. There is a possibility that Kempton’s body could be exhumed so that it is buried according to custom.

This could be a tale of history repeating itself again.