Dead man resurfaces 13 years after burial

In a sensational twist that reads more like fiction than reality, a 69-year-old Buhera woman, Judith Machao, has rocked her community - and social circles far beyond - with a jaw-dropping claim: her husband, long thought dead and buried in 2011, is very much alive.

In a candid and unsolicited interview on Monday, Judith recounted a surreal encounter earlier this year in Murambinda, where she says she came face to face with Canisio Machao - the man whose funeral she attended more than a decade ago.

According to Judith, her in-laws, in collusion with Canisio himself, staged an elaborate deception to make her believe he had died - all in a bid to seize the couple's Glen View 7 home in Harare.

"It was my daughter who informed me that Canisio had passed away while I was staying in Buhera. I rushed to Gutu for the funeral, but no one showed me his grave. They said they would during the memorial, which never happened," she said.

The story takes an even stranger turn.

In January this year, Judith travelled to Murambinda Registry Office to retrieve her marriage certificate. There, to her shock, she claims she bumped into the very man she had buried in 2011.

"He came up to me and said, ‘Go back home. I'll bring you the certificate.' I told him I was being denied access to our house. He promised to fix it," she said.

Judith says Canisio told her he had been imprisoned all these years and insisted she return to Glen View 7. Five months have passed - and she's still waiting for his return.

The widow insists she was not hallucinating and believes the 2011 funeral was a sham designed to push her out of the property.

"It was a setup. I was forced to live in the rural areas while they took everything we built together," she said bitterly.

The property in question was reportedly seized by her brother-in-law, Peter Machao, just weeks after the funeral.

Judith has since acquired Canisio's death certificate, issued in 2022, which lists his date of death as November 7, 2011 at Harare Central Hospital - and curiously notes that he was a widower, despite Judith being his legally wedded wife.

The saga has divided the family.

Her daughter, Sylvia, insists her father is truly dead.

"He divorced my mother long before his death. He was a widower when he passed. We buried him. She's confused and disturbing the dead," said Sylvia.

Judith's niece, Nyevero Chinoona, offered a more sympathetic view.

"It was shocking. My aunt is convinced she saw him. Who are we to doubt her? She's of sound mind and has never suffered from any mental illness," she said.

But others believe the phenomenon may have a spiritual explanation.

Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) president, Mr. George Kandiero, weighed in, suggesting that Judith might have seen an apparition or ghost.

"Such encounters are not uncommon if certain rituals were done at the grave. It's also possible she's experiencing visions due to spiritual manipulation," Kandiero said.

Despite conflicting accounts, Judith is not backing down.

She has already initiated legal proceedings to reclaim the Glen View 7 house and says she is ready to fight for what she believes is hers.

"This is not just about a house. It's about justice. I've been homeless for 14 years while they enjoyed what we built together. Enough is enough," she declared.

As the legal and spiritual dust begins to swirl, only time - and perhaps a court - will determine whether this is a tragic delusion, a ghost story come to life, or an elaborate hoax finally unraveling.