News / National
Lightning burns Nyanga best farmer's produce to ashes
16 Apr 2012 at 06:49hrs | Views
A Nyanga farmer was left counting his losses after a bolt of lightning struck a hut at his homestead and razed almost 15 bales of HIGH GRADE tobacco which was ready for auctioning last Friday, in a suspected case of witchcraft due to jealousy.
It was a day carved in hell for Karima Bandare (38) of Number 10, Ruchera village near Mapako Business Centre in Nyanga North when he helplessly watched the hut which housed his produce being burnt to ashes around 9pm after some light showers in the area. When we visited the Bandare homestead on Easter Monday, the incident was still the talk of the village. Although they will be able to harvest just 3 bales from the remaining crop in the field, the family members were still battling to come to terms with the tragedy.
Typical of most rural settings, suspicion is rife that the catastrophe could be the work of an envious villager. In an interview, Bandare, who lives with his wife and eight children, relived his ordeal, saying he witnessed the whole drama after being awakened by a heavy thunderbolt at around 9pm.
"On that day we had some light showers and I was woken up by a heavy thunderbolt. When I opened the door, I almost went back inside because there was another heavy thunderbolt. It was after the third thunderbolt that I saw one of my huts on fire. I almost cried as I watched the root collapsing and my tobacco being reduced to ashes. With the way it happened, I could not salvage anything from the hut. We had finished packing the bales and they were ready for the market. Only the hut that housed the tobacco was burnt. The most peinful thing is that almost everyone in the village knew that i had produced a high quality crop and most villagers frequently visited my home to learn how I had grown the crop," said the visibly pained Bandare.
Apparently this is not the first incident in which a farmer lost all his produce to lightning and Bandare could not rule out foul play. he said the incident has even inspired him to do better next year.
Meanwhile, Traditionalists believe that lightning is not just a force of nature. They argue that lightning does not kill anyone without having been sent by an adversary. To them, "God's lightning", which is normally accompanied by a storm, does not attack people but will strike a tree. Interestingly, Zimbabwe is even cited in the Guiness Book of World Records as the country where a single bolt of lightning claimed its largest number of victims. This occurred in Chinamasa Village in Mutasa (1975) when 21 people were killed while sheltering in a hut.
A traditional healer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the lightning was the work of the family's enemies. he said the enemy was driven by jealousy. He wondered why the lightning targeted only one hut, which housed the harvested crop.
It was a day carved in hell for Karima Bandare (38) of Number 10, Ruchera village near Mapako Business Centre in Nyanga North when he helplessly watched the hut which housed his produce being burnt to ashes around 9pm after some light showers in the area. When we visited the Bandare homestead on Easter Monday, the incident was still the talk of the village. Although they will be able to harvest just 3 bales from the remaining crop in the field, the family members were still battling to come to terms with the tragedy.
Typical of most rural settings, suspicion is rife that the catastrophe could be the work of an envious villager. In an interview, Bandare, who lives with his wife and eight children, relived his ordeal, saying he witnessed the whole drama after being awakened by a heavy thunderbolt at around 9pm.
Apparently this is not the first incident in which a farmer lost all his produce to lightning and Bandare could not rule out foul play. he said the incident has even inspired him to do better next year.
Meanwhile, Traditionalists believe that lightning is not just a force of nature. They argue that lightning does not kill anyone without having been sent by an adversary. To them, "God's lightning", which is normally accompanied by a storm, does not attack people but will strike a tree. Interestingly, Zimbabwe is even cited in the Guiness Book of World Records as the country where a single bolt of lightning claimed its largest number of victims. This occurred in Chinamasa Village in Mutasa (1975) when 21 people were killed while sheltering in a hut.
A traditional healer who spoke on condition of anonymity said the lightning was the work of the family's enemies. he said the enemy was driven by jealousy. He wondered why the lightning targeted only one hut, which housed the harvested crop.
Source - Metro
