Chief Makoni facilitates reburial of exhumed child

CHIEF Makoni last Saturday facilitated the reburial of the remains of a child which were exhumed and dumped on the gravesite by the farm owner, Sipiwe Chimonyo.

Chief Makoni ordered Chimonyo to foot funeral expenses such as transport, coffin and food.

Chimonyo appeared before Chief Makoni on Friday after she requested for a postponement.

She is facing allegations of violating the Vaungwe customs by exhuming the remains at her farm without the consent of the parents, Mr Peter Chakaora and Juliet Chizunza arguing that she wanted to put a paddock on that land.

Chimonyo is also accused of ordering another couple that works for a white farmer, Grant Hoffemeir, who is leasing her Moreson Farm, to exhume their child that had been buried next to the Chaoaras' threatening to have them fired and arrested if they refused.

Chakaora rebutted the threats, resulting in Chimonyo taking the law into her own hands.

Chief Makoni described Chimonyo's conduct as "abominable" and vowed to crack the whip.

According to the Vaungwe tradition, it is a taboo and gross violation of cultural customs for a stranger to exhume the remains of another stranger without the consent of the deceased's relatives and the traditional leadership.

Section 110 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act Chapter 9:23 also criminalise the violation of a grave.

One needs approval of the State, through the District Administrator's office to exhume a body.

This is usually done in cases where foul play is suspected.

The Vaungwe culture dictates that young children are buried in a special way as a way of giving them eternal rest.

Burial is conducted by elderly women near a river or stream.

Such children are buried by the right side with the head resting on the right palm. They are not buried looking up like adults.

Among the remains, the child's skull, legs and legs could not be located, possibly due to decomposition, having been buried on May 26, 2015 and exhumed on December 27, 2015.

This complicated issues resulted in the abandonment of the whole cultural process since the body had been violated.

The decomposed remains were simply wrapped in a white piece of cloth and placed in the coffin.

Elders claimed that this posed a danger to the bereaved family. They argued that in the event that the child's soul fails to find everlasting peace, the couple risks barrenness.

They said Chimonyo should also find peace with the child's family and have cleansing rituals performed to set the parties free.

The other bone of contention includes the manner in which the grave was covered.

Culturally, once a body has been exhumed, the grave would not just be filled and closed with soil.

Either a banana tree or sugarcane is planted.

In this case the graves were ripped down by an ox-drawn plough.

Chakaora said his family was breathing a sigh of relief and were looking forward to the trial.

"The burden that has been haunting us for two weeks has been taken off our shoulders. At least we can breathe and focus on our life as well as these new developments. It was not easy," said  Chakaora.