The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
VILLAGERS around Muchena shops in Mutasa District were left in awe after a 10-year-old boy led his family members to a butchery where he claimed a human skull was buried by his late maternal grandfather.
His grandfather, Jasper Manhiri, passed away in January.
The minor pointed to a place inside the building where he claimed Joseph Rore’s skull was buried and ordered its exhumation.
Rore’s spirit is manifesting on the boy and was demanding to be given a virgin to escort it to the Rore family in Mozambique for an appeasement ceremony.
After negotiations with the family’s elders, the spirit ended up opting for seven beasts, three goats, 25 hens and US$600.
The scene at Muchena shops followed countless spiritual attacks on the minor.
According to the boy’s mother, Lena Manhiri of Ushewokunze Village in Mutasa, the incessant attacks have resulted in the Grade Four pupil dropping out of school as he is now a danger to himself and his peers.
“My son is being troubled by two things. First, he sees four goblins every day. Then Rore’s spirit manifests on him claiming that he was killed for ritual purposes by my uncle Jasper Manhiri.
“He claims to have been killed in 2000 and claims that his skull was buried inside Jasper’s butchery at Muchena shop. The spirit also claims that Rore’s body was dumped in Mozambique near his home.
“His body was then buried without the head. The spirit also claims that it has killed a lot of people in our family, including Jasper,” she said.
“The goblins started appearing right after Jasper’s death. His immediate family denies any connection between the goblins and their late father. They have also expressed ignorance over Rore’s murder even though my son is manifesting.
“They say my son is faking everything, yet he is only 10. All I need is Rore’s appeasement so that my son can lead a normal life again,” she said.
She said whenever he sees the goblins, the boy becomes violent. Despite his small stature, older people have a torrid time subduing him when he is in that state.
“At times we have to restrain him because the spirit makes him violent. When that happens, we tie his hands and legs or we just tie him to a tree. He shouts all sorts of obscenities from there, demanding the appeasement of Rore’s spirit,” she said.
Lena said her son is also giving directions to Rore’s home in Mozambique, a place he has never set foot.
“If they say my son is faking it, how then does he know the directions to Mozambique when he has never been there? Those who have been to Mozambique confirm that there is such a family in Manica,” said Lena.
In an interview with The Weekender, the boy said he misses school.
He narrated how he sees countless little men in black suits, adding that they have threatened to wipe off the entire Manhiri family if their demands are not met.
“I see small weird human beings dressed in black suits and black hats. When it all began, one little man was in the garden and pierced me on my foot.
“For days I could not walk. When I got better, I started seeing many of them. These little men in black suits are everywhere. They threaten to kill me and my mother,” said the minor.
The late Jasper’s wife, Gogo Cecelia Manhiri, dismissed the allegations being levelled against her husband.
“If this Joseph Rore was indeed killed by my husband like they want everyone to believe, he should have been manifesting on a family member and not on this boy. The child is not a Manhiri, his mother is the member of the family.
“My thinking is that somebody from the child’s paternal side of the family murdered this person for ritual purposes and now they want to apportion the blame on my late husband.
“My husband was a very prayerful person and everyone knew him in this area. There is no way he would have killed anyone for rituals.
“It is just absurd and I am waiting for my children to come home so that we can sue these people for defaming our family. Lena even labelled me a witch, yet I have never wronged her,” said Gogo Manhiri.
The family now awaits Chief Mutasa’s guidance on how to proceed.
