Residents call for exorcism to rid Bulawayo tap water of evil spirits

Bulawayo residents have called on the city fathers to carry out traditional rites to cleanse the city's drinking water of evil spirits after a man died in one of the supply dams on Thursday last week.

Residents said if an exorcism ceremony is not done, the spirit of the dead man would affect residents negatively.

Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo has assured residents there was nothing wrong with the water.
An 18-year-old man who went against friends' advice drowned when he swam in Ncema Dam while fully clothed.

Police retrieved the body on Saturday morning.

Residents were planning to boycott using tap water for cooking and drinking saying a dead body had spent close to 48 hours in one of the supply dams.

"The water has to be cleansed otherwise the whole city will be affected by the spirit in unpleasant ways. Some people may not believe in the spirits but those of us who know what they are capable of, should urge non-believers to also join up and put pressure on council to cleanse the water," a traditional healer from Makokoba said.

Melusi Sibanda of Cowdray Park Suburb said: "besides the spiritual aspect, there has to be the hygiene consideration. Can we honestly drink water that had a dead body in it?"

Cllr Moyo said there was no need to worry as the water was purified before it reached residents.

"With all due respect to the family of the dead man, I do not think he contaminated the water. It is not like he dissolved in it. The dam is so big that contamination if any, would be negligible, said Cllr Moyo.

He said residents should not be worried because the purification process was thorough enough to kill all germs.

Cllr Moyo said worry about spirits stemmed from residents' perception of death, which he said should be taken as natural without people reading too much into it.