Hurungwe family battles liberation war hero’s restless spirit

By Colonel (Retired) Ernest Mganda Dube

The talk of a dead man’s spirit, more so, of a Zimbabwe People Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) manifesting long after his death, is regarded in Matebeleland as one of the folk tales often recited by old men or women to unwitty young children.

As a result, many people of this region including former ZPRA fighters themselves, have grown not believing the concept of spirit media manifestations that range from mhondoro, svikiro to other spiritual prophesizing mythical issues.

Growing up under the tutelage of my uncles the Moyo-MaMpande people whose founding parent Malume married ta San woman of Mengwe-Butwa dynasty, whose oracle was at first a black ox but later a black he-goat named Tategulu, I learnt to distance myself from following or understanding what to me appeared to be atheistic practices. As such, what to my uncles and others in general were issues steeped deep in the traditional spiritual world of our ancestors never quite raised my curiosity. I firmly saw it as an atheist form of understanding the world, which I did not believe.

It was therefore a bit of surprise to when, sometime in the mid-2020s,  an Honourable Member of Parliament from Hurungwe sought my assistance as a former ZPRA cadre who operated in his province to help deal with the spirit mediums of a former ZPRA war-dead, which he said were appearing in his area, scaring the locals. The Honourable implore me to find lasting solution to my comrades’ troubled, as they were unsettling families in his constituency, who had no idea how to deal with the spirits of people who were not from their lands.

encounter the saga of the spirit . In fact, what the honourable wanted was for asked me to raise awareness among the communities in Matebeleland and Midlands where most of the fighters used to come from, to come to Hurungwe and exorcise their relatives’ troubled spirits.

On the 9^th of May 2025, I therefore I found myself joining the leadership of the NGP Fallen Heroes’ Trust in answer to an SOS call from Chief Mzilawempi. Our quest was to assist the Munyavira Zaranyika family, under Sabhuku Kawara. This family says it has known no peace since 1986 as it has been haunted by the spirit of  a former ZPRA fighter known as Cde Webster. However, we had to make a stop at Grand Parade Farm along the Karoi-Kariba Road, approximately 40kms from Karoi, in Chief Chundu’s area.

Upon arrival at the farm, I was welcomed by Chief Chundu and members of the Fallen Heroes’ Trust who included a spirit medium nicknamed by the local community as Amai Chimurenga. The next day, early in the morning I was taken to the graves of comrades Banda (from Gokwe) and Soweto (from Filabusi). The two were the first comrades to be extracted from a cave in Chitindiva (Tshitindiba in isiNdebele) next to Govere’s homestead under Chief Chundu. I was then told that it is these two comrades who spoke through a spirit medium that they were never to be taken to the countryside of their birth but needed a farm in Chundu where they were to remain interred alongside the community of people among whom they had fought and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Having many the formalities which including rituals and salutations, I bid the two comrades farewell in typical revolutionary fashion, murmuring respectfully: ‘Lalanikahle masotsha ka ZAPU- long live ZPRA fighters.’ I guess those present could feel them responding; ‘Long Live.’

Having played my role in Chief Chundu’s area, our party proceeded to Chief Mzilawempi’s area, which lies approximately 40 or so kilometres to the South of Karoi. As the name ‘mzilawempi’ implies, this area has witnessed its fair share of impis and military regiments over the ages, dating back to pre-colonial Zimbabwe. One oral tradition suggests that this is the place where early Nguni warriors of the early 1830s passed through identified either as the Zwangendaba group or that of King Mzilikazi’s Ndebele. Let’s leave this for our next article, and focus on the ZPRA war-dead spirit that were making troubling visitations in the Munyavira Zaranyika family.

Mashonaland West Province has been a theatre of ZPRA military operations. During the height of the liberation war, it was code-named ‘Northern Front’, which was subdivided into three command regions known as Regions 1 to 3. Each region was further sub-divided into three theatre commands known as Zones. As such, Northern Front (NF) was the area to the north of the railway line that ran from Salisbury (Harare) to Plumtree.

On the 10^th of May around 11.30 hours, Chief Mzilewempi and his companion Chief Chundu, and a 12 or so member delegation guided by Fallen Heroes’ Trust, sat next to the Munyavira Zaranyika family, as the Chief introduced us and the purpose his engagement efforts. Speaking in chiShona, he emphasised on ‘kuyananisana’, meaning to resolve their conflict with Webster, a ZPRA war dead’s spirit. The immediate traditional leader to the Zaranyika, Sabhuku Kawara also arrived in time for the Chief’s opening remarks.

The matters of fact that then emerged from the engagement were;

a.       The late sister to Munyavira Zaranyika started developing trance episodes and strange sickness in 1986. A deceased ZPRA comrade known as Cde Webster was said to be the cause of her sickness and trances, during which she would violently assault members of her family. It is alleged that Cde Webster disappeared in 1980 when most ZPRA comrades were trooping into Assembly Points (Mpofu, a war veteran record, at Grand Parade Farm, 10 May 2025).

b.      The founding father, the late Zaranyika, is the one who had relocated from some place far way to come and settle into this area in 1982. The three Zaranyika brothers were his sons who, whilst around 10 and 14 years of age in 1984, picked up a military bag containing bandages, pills and a blanket and a few other things they could no longer remember. They went on to take the bag to their homestead where they opened it and utilised the goodies.

c.       On being questioned how they came to pick up the bag following a hare chase which their dog was pursuing and if ever there was a human corpse, the three Zaranyika brothers pleaded loss of memory of the details. The plea on the loss of memory continued as they responded to how their father reacted to the news of the bag.

d.      The senior Zaranyika’s wife then interjected and said her husband and his brothers were not being honest, they were withholding the truth. She explained how her husband’s sister would run to the hill and come back dressed in military khaki jacket and start hailing unspeakable words in Ndebele. She went on to narrate how her daughter and that of other brothers’ wives fell sick resulting in her husband calling for the help of a n’anga (traditional healer).

e.       The woman’s husbands, one of the brothers who had picked up the items, constantly interjected and disputed his wife’s version. He claimed that the spirit of the dead ZPRA combatant spoke in clear Shona and not in isiNdebele through their sister. The session therefore turned into accusation and counter accusation between the elder Zaranyika bother and his wife, who insisted the brothers had not taken the issue seriously enough. She further spoke of the family sleeping outside their houses on fearing the assaults and more so, their traditional healer’s therapy never helped as her husband’s sister gave birth to a sickling baby who later died after which the sister also died a year or so later.

f.       The situation descended into chaos as the family failed to unite; the group witnessed scenes of hysteria from both the spirit medium some family members, as the chief tried in vain to help the Zaranyika family to unite in search of a solution. In the end, Chief Mzilawempi took matters in his hands and led rituals in which he pleaded with Cde Webster to rise and help us give the closure and peace that his spirit wanted.

g.      On hearing the tough words from Chief Mzilawempi the Fallen Heroes Trust spirit medium fell into a trance, speaking in the voice of Cde Webster (of Filabusi) demanding his money, weapon and other goodies the Zaranyika took away after killing him with poisoned food.

h.      A young girl from the the Zaranyika family also went into a trance and captivated the group as she spoke in the voice of her deceased grandfather, commanding his sons to compensate the family of the deceased ZPRA combatant. The old man’s spirit advised the family to pay with 5 beasts and to reveal (to the group) the inventory of items that had been looted after the combatant was killed by the brothers.

j.       It was further established that one of the Zaranyika sons was jailed for approximately 70 years after being arrested for a myriad of armed robberies. The origins of the gun remained a mystery, as the tight-lipped brothers claimed it had been stolen from an unnamed farm.

After the epiphany provided by the spirit medium and the young Zaranyika girl’s spiritual trances, Chief Mzilewempi advised the family that he had tried all that was within his power to help them they disrespected him. He would leave them to their devices, but hope they would listen to his wise counsel.

The chief further warned the family not to dare try to tamper with the hill where Cde Webster’s bag was found which is as well suspected to be the place where his corpse was hidden.

After this dramatic episode, our delegation drove-off to yet another place approximately 10km away at Nyamutora School, where a ZPRA war dead corpse was swept into the open by either rains or winds resulting in the community picking up the worn-out head and pieces of bones.

This sums up the sad story of the ZPRA war-dead spirits crying in caves and riverines of Hurungwe with only Chiefs and their communities fighting tooth and nail to preserve the little still traceable to their war heroes.

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