Tendai Gukutikwa and Tinashe Mlambo
THE usually tranquil Fern Valley community in Mutare is grappling to come to terms with the terrifying discovery of four human skulls and an assortment of human skeletal remains that were dumped in a recently dug shallow trench.
The eerie discovery was made recently by City of Mutare employees who were picking stones for construction purposes in the mountainous area.
The discovery has left many residents shocked and raised more questions than answers.
When our news crew visited Fern Valley on Wednesday, residents were still trying to come to terms with how the human remains ended up at the scene since there were no graves nearby.
One of the six City of Mutare employees, Mrs Ruby Madzima (46), who stumbled upon the human remains while going about their work, was visibly shaken and said: “We were going about our routine duties of clearing the area, and picking stones when we spotted something unusual. We were working in the area the previous week and there was no trench. At first I thought it was a carcass of a beast, but my colleagues were not convinced. When we drew closer, we realised that they were human remains. We called the police, who reacted swiftly. When the police arrived, they called their superiors who ordered them to dig the trench.”
Mrs Madzima said the police only dug twice, and discovered a human skull which had its teeth intact, minus the hair.
“The first human skull to be uncovered had no hair on it. We discovered other remains that we concluded were of a human being. We later asked ourselves how long the trench might have been there because we were working there the previous week. As the police kept digging, three more skulls and other human remains were exhumed,” she explained.
Mrs Madzima further claimed that whoever dumped the human remains there, did it so carefully as they were buried in an orderly way — each skull with its own skeletal remains.
She said it was clear that the trench was recently dug though the remains looked very old.
“The soil excavated from the trench was still fresh, which raised suspicions that someone from Fern Valley dumped the remains in the trench recently. Remember, we have new residential stands where people are building, and it could be possible that someone could have stumbled on old graves at their residential stand, and exhumed them for reburial in the mountain. But they should have done the correct thing of informing the police and the traditional leadership so that the correct rituals could be done to cleanse the area.
“You cannot exhume human remains of strangers and then dump them in the manner they did. Surely some people are daring. I cannot imagine myself doing that. It is really scary. I have never seen anything like it in my entire life,” she said.
Not only Mrs Madzima was petrified by the discovery — but so was the generality of Fern Valley residents.
A Fern Valley resident, Mr Shadreck Mavhuka, expressed the deep concern shared by the community.
“The Fern Valley community is still in shock, and some are suspecting that this could have been a mass murder, and the victims’ bodies were dumped in the mountain to conceal evidence. It is actually terrifying to imagine something of this nature happening so close to your house. Why would someone remove those human skulls and remains without alerting the police and other relevant authorities? What were they hiding and whose remains are these? These are some of the questions we keep asking ourselves,” he said.
Mr Mavhuka said the whole Fern Valley community is now living in fear.
Acting Manicaland provincial police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Wiseman Chinyoka confirmed the strange discovery, and said investigations are in progress.
“On August 19, Mr Jonathan Maiwasha and others were picking up stones meant for construction in the Spiritans Mountain in Fern Valley when they discovered a suspected human bone protruding from a trench. Mr Maiwasha reported the matter at Fern Valley Police Base, who reacted swiftly and proceeded to the mountain where they saw a recently dug surface,” he said.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka said after detecting a human bone protruding from the trench, the police used a shovel to re-dig the trench in a bid to ascertain why the area was initially dug.
He said four human skulls and 13 suspected arm bones were discovered, as well as two broken bones that looked like pelvic bones.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka said a baby wool hat, wool trousers and other broken rib bones were also discovered in the trench.
He said they are investigating the matter to ascertain the identities of the victims, and what could have happened to them.
“We are treating this discovery with utmost seriousness, and are conducting thorough investigations to determine the identities of the victims, circumstances surrounding their deaths, and the events leading to their burial at the location.
“We are appealing to anyone with information that may assist in our investigations to come forward and assist us in piecing together the events surrounding this tragic discovery,” he said.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka said in a similar incident, human remains of a male adult were also discovered in Buhera.
“Aaron Musuka was at Murambinda Cemetery attending a relative’s burial with other residents when he went into a nearby hill intending to relieve himself, and discovered some human remains, which include a human skull and bones. Besides them was a grey pair of trousers. He rushed back to inform other mourners, who accompanied him to the hill, and a police report was made,” he said.
A pair of torn trousers, shorts, black belt, white and blue striped boxer shorts with bones inside were recovered from the scene, while some of the bones were scattered all over the area.
“Police recovered an okapi knife, 150 Rand and 20 Pula notes in the deceased’s wallet. Inside the wallet was a national identity card for Farai Quinton (40). In the deceased’s pockets was a Samsung cellphone with a Botswana sim card. A white shirt was also found hanging from a nearby tree, suggesting that the deceased might have hanged himself,” he said.
The skull was found inside a hat.
Assistant Inspector Chinyoka said thorough investigations revealed that Farai Quinton was on the police wanted persons list in connection with a murder case committed in 2023.
