1971 murder mystery solved, but . . .

A MAN and his mother, on their way from a rain-making ceremony, are waylaid and killed by unknown assailants.

The body of the woman is later found on the banks of Tugwani River, five kilometres away from their home in Batsure Village in Chivi.

There is no trace of the man, Onsen Tafireyi Tanhoya, known as Headman Masunda since the day of the tragedy, January 20, 1971.

That week's Sunday Mail newspaper, published on January 24, 1971, quoted Rhodesian government officials recording Headman Masunda and his mother's deaths as cases of drowning after a beer drink.

However, 43 years later, the mystery of the deaths is unravelling as the spirit of the murdered man is speaking and wailing through the man's brother's son and pointing where he was buried, the articles he carried at the time of his death and demanding a decent burial.

It started three weeks ago.

Tebson Tanhoya (41), a security guard at Tokwe-Mukosi Dam project, was afflicted by the spirit, which enjoined a gathering of the family and recounted the murdered headman's journey on the fateful day leading to his murder by fellow villagers.

The spirit indicated where the murderers hid his body.

It gave indications leading to the recovery of two wallets, one with some coins and a knife that was used in stabbing him to death, before people could retrieve his remains.

Last week, The Herald visited the village and witnessed the spectacle as man and spirit interacted: orders, exhortations, cries, shrieks, wails and desperation.

The possessed man would issue instructions to his families to dig and find his bones and paraphernalia.

"Ndiripo pano asi ndakatsimbirirwa nemishonga yevakandiuraya. Nhai mwana wemunin'ina wangu inga waivapo pandakaurawa, ratidza vanhu pamakandiisa ndiwane kuzorora. (My remains are here but there are people who are blocking you from seeing me because of witchcraft. My nephew you were there when I was killed and today you are here, please show the people where you buried my body)…"

The spirit continued to appeal to the murderers to guide his children to his bones for reburial.

Meanwhile, Tebson, who was still in a trance, asked for a pick and shovel deciding to dig on his own.

He recovered the remains of the late Headman Masunda's wallet, raising expectations that the manifestation had been right.

The late headman's children positively identified the wallet.

Locked
However, after the discovery Tebson started losing contact with the spirit as relatives feared that some people dabbling in witchcraft were overpowering him.

However, Tebson's sister Monica came shrieking from the homestead, ostensibly possessed by the spirit of Tanhoya's mother demanding a proper burial for her son.

"Munodei vana vadiki kuita zvemishonga? Rasha mushonga wawakapfumbata ipapo seunorasha hako mvura vanhu vavige mwana wangu. Ndoda mwana wangu chete. Zvamakaita makaita kare asi ndoda mwana wangu aradzikwe zvakanaka. (Why do you use juju at such a tender age? Throw it away. Just act as if you are going to the toilet and throw it away so that my son can have a decent burial.)"

The pleadings from the spirit did not seem to help much.

After the agitation, Tebson had become normal and quiet again.

Villagers said his jaws had been "locked" by witchcraft, akabatwa shaya, to prevent him from saying more.

"Ah mishonga yahwinha hapana chatinoona pano. Tirikufamba musango. Hapana chedu pano.

Zvatopera izvi (The witchcraft has won. We will not recover anything. We are wondering in a jungle.

There is nothing we will recover)," quipped Joram Tanhoya, who is Headman Masunda's son.

As the sun got warmer, it had been a rather cold day for the Chivi temperatures, the zeal for the search started to wane. Word started filtering that witchcraft had locked out the spirit for fear of exposure.

A local prophet also confirmed that the body was there, but witchcraft was winning the battle.

He advised the family to keep searching before summoning a relative whom he accused of having "blood" on his hands.

The man is believed to have participated in the double murders.

He was also identified, not by name though, by the spirit to assist the search since he knew where they buried his remains.

As the day ended, so was the zeal that had attracted the Chivi communal lands to find closure to the mystery.

The people returned to their homes with a sense of loss and disbelief that witchcraft had overwhelmed the late headman's spirit.

Recollection
In an interview the next morning, the Tanhoya family recounted that fateful day in 1971.

Joram said his father had attended to one of his shops before holding court which found a villager guilty of some offence.

"They used to hold court at Nhapata Village and a man was ordered to pay a goat for his offence but harsh words were exchanged," he said.

There is an unconfirmed story that the man who was charged warned the headman that he had made his last ruling.

Tanhoya added: "My father and his mother then travelled to the rain-making ceremony at Bindamombe Mountain which was very successful and it immediately started raining heavily. The last person who saw him was his guard. He told us that he had been instructed to ride his bicycle home while the chief walked home with his mother and that was the last we saw or heard from him."

The late headman's young brother Tevera Nhapata said: "The police dog section joined the search but we recovered his underpants and shirt. We later found my mother's body about 4,5 kilometres along the river."

"The body was taken to Masvingo for post-mortem, but we never received the results although we buried her body at the family graveyard."

Mr Charles Tanhoya said they believed the late headman's spirit possessed Tebson because of the way he recounted the fateful day.

"Tebson was born two years after he disappeared and there is no way he could recount what happened on that day. The spirit has not accused anyone by name for the murder because he just wants proper burial before the suspects are brought to book," he said.

"The spirit told us that we would find two wallets and the knife that was used to stab my father and the fact that we found that red wallet means that we are on the right track. We are afraid some of the people involved in this case have countered our moves with their own witchcraft, blocking the spirit. We have also noticed that the spirit was becoming weak as time progressed."

The family has since stopped digging, while Tebson has returned to work, but there are fears his life could be in danger.

"He has not been eating for two weeks and that could definitely affect his life but we will continue our search for answers. We are also waiting for guidance now that his spirit is within us. The spirit had brought hope for closure to this mystery but as you saw, we have encountered a lot of problems," Joram Tanhoya said.

The family is taking turns to dig at the area Headman Masunda's spirit indicated in the hope that the headman's remains, would have a proper burial.
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