The ManicaPost
Tendai Gukutikwa
Post Correspondent
A NEDZIWA family is enduring hell on earth and playing hide and seek with invisible assailants that are pelting stones at them day and night.
Some family members have sustained injuries, while property is being destroyed.
So far, the Masarakufa family has lost 12 window panes and all the roofing sheets on their house.
One may be tempted to think that the Masarakufa homestead has been long abandoned due to the broken windows, damaged roofs and the large stones that are scattered all over the place; but the place is still home to four people.
Depsite the nightmare, the family has nowhere else to go.
When The Manica Post visited the Masarakufa homestead last week on Saturday, the atmosphere was tense.
Mr Percy Masarakufa said his nine-year-old son was injured when a stone flew inside their house and hit his left eye.
“We are living in fear as we do not know when the next attack will be. These stones might seriously injure us but we have nowhere else to go. I never wronged anyone and I don’t deserve this kind of treatment,” said Mr Masarakufa.
During an interview with The Manica Post, several stones rained on the roof of Mr Masarakufa’s house, thereby forcing a brief stoppage as fear gripped the news crew.
After a couple of minutes, there was silence and the interview resumed.
Mr Masarakufa said some prophets at his church have told him that the attack is spiritual and therefore it requires divine intervention.
However, Mr Masarakufa is adamant that his neighbour – Ms Regina Mupambari – is behind the mysterious attacks.
He believes that Ms Mupambari is sending her children to throw the rocks and bricks from their own home, which is about 100 metres away.
Mr Masarakufa recently made a police report and Ms Mupambari and her children were briefly detained over the issue.
They were released when the stones continued pounding the Musarakufa homestead while Ms Mupambari and her children were in police custody.
But an adamant Mr Masarakufa took the matter to Chief Mutambara’s court, where he sued Ms Mupambari for damaging his property.
Things took a dramatic twist when Ms Mupambari went into a trance and the spirit of her late brother – Mr Tendai Mupambari — manifested through her telling the court that he is behind the attacks.
The late Mr Mupambari accused the Masarakufas of grabbing his land while he was in Mozambique.
“His (Masarakufa’s) brother, Tichaona, grabbed my land while I was away in Mozambique. They should surrender my land back, otherwise things will get worse. I want my land back,” cried the possessed Ms Mupambari.
Tichaona was present during the court session and admitted that he indeed took over Mr Mupambari’s land.
He said the village head allocated it to him.
However, Mr Masarakufa said Ms Mupambari was faking the manifestation and insisted that she is the one behind his family’s misfortunes.
Said Mr Masarakufa: “I am not convinced with this manifestation. I never wronged her late brother. My older brother is the one who wronged them, but does not even stay at my house. If all this is true, why is the late Tendai not targeting my brother’s homestead?”
Chief Mutambara instructed the two families to seek spiritual guidance.
He also instructed his aides to look resolve the land matter.
Zimbabwe Traditional Healers’ Association (Zinatha) president, Mr George Kandiero, said it is unimaginable that Ms Mupambari’s minor children would haul stones 100 metres from Mr Masarakufa’s homestead and inflict such damage on his property.
He said Mr Masarakufa needs to accept that the attacks are spiritual so that he can seek the necessary assistance.
“Such things are common when something wrong would have been done in the past. If there was a past transgression, cleansing should be done for the sake of the family’s peace,” said Mr Kandiero.
He said such issues do not need the intervention of law enforcement agents.
