Cleansing ceremony on for desecrated Heroes Acre

Nyore Madzianike Mutare Bureau
A CLEANSING ceremony of the Manicaland Provincial Heroes’ Acre will be held on the eve of the Heroes’ Day after an unnamed politician from Mutare allegedly violated the graves last year.

Last year, some unknown people sneaked into the provincial heroes’ acre and sprinkled ashes on the tombstones of most of the graves. Acting Chief Zimunya yesterday confirmed the cleansing ceremony and said they were still to find out the motive of the person who was behind the bizarre ritual.

Although Chief Zimunya refused to disclose the name of the politician, he said the rituals were held in a bid to boost his political power and have influence within his party.

“Sometime last year, one of the top politicians went to the Provincial Heroes’ Acre and performed some rituals with the intention of boosting his political power.

“We discovered that a mixture of cooking oil, ashes, rapoko and other traditional crops were sprinkled on the graves.” “The politician wanted to boost his political power,” he said.

Chief Zimunya also said reports of ghosts and other mysterious incidents that were happening at the shrine prompted them to undertake the cleansing ceremony. He said he would be leading the proceedings during the cleansing ceremony.

“There are fallen heroes from Manicaland Province’s seven districts, who were buried at that shrine. It means there are fallen heroes from across the seven districts lying together at that shrine, so a lot of things are happening there.

“We have heard of stories of ghosts being seen at that heroes’ acre. We used to conduct traditional ceremonies each year, but last year we failed to perform that programme,” he said.

Chief Zimunya added: “Since the shrine is in my area, I saw it prudent to hold such an event. I went to see the Provincial Affairs Minister (Mandi Chimene) and she gave us the nod to continue with the ceremony.”

Chief Zimunya said they did not take action against the said politician.

“You know what happens with these politicians. We decided not to take any action against him since we are not certain of what will happen to us. We said, let us do the right thing and cleanse the place,” he said. Cde Chimene confirmed that Chief Zimunya had informed her about his intentions to conduct the cleansing ceremony.

She said this on Tuesday before bidding farewell to an advance team of 37 ZANU-PF youths, which travelled to Mozambique ahead of the Manicaland Province’s annual visit.

“Unlike in previous years where we would have a Heroes’ Gala at the provincial shrine, this year, we will shelve it to allow Chief Zimunya and his subjects to conduct their cleansing ceremony,” she said.

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