MUTASA – A family in Mutasa is grappling with an extraordinary situation, caught between the demands of ancestral spirits and the complexities of the modern legal system.
The spirits of Lazarus and Rishoni Madekerera are allegedly seeking retribution for their deaths, claiming they were murdered by their father, Jairos Madekerera, decades ago. The case highlights the enduring influence of traditional beliefs in rural Zimbabwe and the challenges they present in a contemporary legal framework.
The saga began with the spirit of Lazarus, communicating through a family member, initially demanding a wife as compensation for his untimely death. This unusual request was quickly dismissed as unlawful, prompting a revised demand: one female elephant and 35 cattle, along with a new house, farmland, and a proper tombstone for his neglected grave – a grave left unattended since his alleged murder in 1988.
The spirit’s message was stark: “If you don’t want to give me a wife, give me a female elephant and 35 cattle, a house and farmland. My family must also erect a headstone on my grave. I died in 1988, but my grave is in a terrible state. Cattle alone won’t quench my thirst for revenge. I would have had four children and grandchildren by now if I hadn’t been murdered by my own father’s henchmen.”
Adding another layer of complexity, the spirit of Rishoni Madekerera, uncle to Lazarus and brother to Jairos, has also made itself known. This spirit corroborates Lazarus’s claims, adding its own harrowing account of murder at the hands of Jairos.
The spirit’s testimony is equally graphic: “His son (Lazarus) isn’t lying. I know because Jairos grabbed my scrotum and pulled, causing my death. I wasn’t the only one to suffer and die in such a painful way. There are other family members who were killed in the same way. They must compensate us.”
The responsibility for appeasing these spirits falls on Passmore Madekerera, Lazarus’s brother, as their father, Jairos, is deceased. However, Passmore vehemently denies the accusations, offering a drastically different account of Lazarus’s death.
“I am extremely surprised by these claims because Lazarus committed suicide after setting fire to our father’s house. I was younger than him, but I was there when he set the house on fire. Scared, he ran away when our father arrived. He returned home in the middle of the night but was afraid to enter the house and ran away again. The following day, we found him hanging from a tree in a nearby forest,” he said.
He questions the legitimacy of the spirit’s demands given his version of events.
Further complicating the matter is the testimony of Precious Gunja-Madekerera who is Passmore’s mother. She lends credence to the spirits’ claims, revealing that her own father, before his death, accused Jairos of his murder and the murders of others. Her statement is powerful.
“Before he died, he told us that Jairos had pulled his scrotum. He also said that we, as his children, would have to deal with this matter. Now Passmore wants to deny it, knowing that my children are suffering; he has a very wicked heart. These aren’t hallucinations. These ancestral grievances happened in the 1980s when I was still a young girl, and my children were born in the 2000s. How do they know all these intimate details, some of which I don’t even know?” she said.
Desperate for resolution, Precious has appealed to the local court for assistance in resolving this unusual and deeply distressing situation. Chief Mutasa, however, has advised the family to seek counsel from a traditional healer before returning to court
