About 300 suspected ex-Zanla combatants, who were recently blocked from invading the Njelele shrine for a cleansing ceremony, allegedly threatened to seize farms surrounding the shrine, including properties under the Matobo National Parks.
Matojeni Cultural Society chairman Albert Nyoni told NewsDay yesterday that former fighters made the threats after they met villagers and traditional leaders on May 5.
“War veterans led by one Noworeka Tensi threatened to come back and take some of the Matopos farms claiming there is a lot of land lying idle,” said Nyoni.
“But we also told them they must not dare do that. We advised the policemen who were present that if such a thing happens they must be prepared to bring trucks full of handcuffs to arrest us because we will not allow strangers to violate our peace.”
In February, over 600 suspected ex-Zanla combatants descended at Njelele where they allegedly conducted a ceremony to “appease the spirits of their colleagues who were killed during the war at Chimoio in Mozambique in 1977”. The group was travelling in a convoy of 16 buses and more than six cars.
In February, over 600 suspected ex-Zanla combatants descended at Njelele where they allegedly conducted a ceremony to “appease the spirits of their colleagues who were killed during the war at Chimoio in Mozambique in 1977”. The group was travelling in a convoy of 16 buses and more than six cars.
Earlier on, the group had reportedly visited Mozambique, exhumed remains of their colleagues and took stones from the graves which they brought and left at the Njelele shrine.
In their latest visit, the war veterans told the cultural leaders and villagers that they were experiencing numerous mysterious deaths and the ancestral spirits had advised them to go and cleanse themselves at the shrine.
Thanks to Silas Nkala
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