The SATURDAY COLUMN:- The Coroner: Catching up with the cruel ones Talent Chiwenga

There are the cruel among us, who, even if rules of entering Heaven were to be relaxed today, they still would not make it. Cruelty is in their Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Never mind this is wordy. Many citizens have lost their lives at the hands of the people who are supposed to save them. Among these are some doctors, nurses, policemen and prison guards.

Suffice to say, many patients have died after doctors and nurses have left surgical objects during operation. Mistake or no mistake what happens thereafter is the cruel part. They have always tried to cover up for this mishap and never own up. The investigations are done internally and a lot of cover up takes place. Surgical instruments are left inside patients many times in Zimbabwe. Surgical sponges account for nearly 70 percent of items left inside patients. Other items commonly found on post-op X-rays include: retractors, sharp objects such as needles, blades and scalpels, towels and other textiles, clamps, guide wires, scissors and more. Surgical items left in patients can perforate or obstruct tissue and organs, and they can lead to severe infections and inflammation. Aside from the serious medical dangers of a foreign object inside a person’s body, a second surgery to remove the item comes with risks and cost.

In police cells many suspects have inexplicably died and the investigations have been wish-wash. They have been many cover ups. The same in prison cells. Now this Government, this new dispensation with a listening President is living no stone unturned in transforming this country. This Government is very clever. It is ahead of us and in sync with the mishaps and goings on. God and the ancestors favoured this our Government with good ears. Cabinet, the Government’s supreme decision making body has passed the Coroner’s Bill.

If the Bill sails through, the Coroner-General’s Office will be charged with sweeping powers to investigate homicides, infanticides, drowning, suicides, accidents or deaths that occur within 24 hours of admission in health institutions.

The coroner will favour the country with expert forensic pathology evidence in courts of law concerning unnatural death. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) tests will also be conducted as part of the investigations. Where the coroner feels the need for a post-mortem, it is done. If there is need for an inquest, that will also be done. The coroner’s job goes beyond the physical analysis of the corpse as it involves interviews with witnesses or other stakeholders the same way the police do their work. The time is now to save people and the time is now to deal with the cruel among us. The chickens have come home to roost.

Fugitive Former Minister in name change move
We hear from across the Limpopo that one of our former ministers in the First Republic who is now a fugitive holed up somewhere there, has decided to change his name. They say he now wants to be called John Maleti. We hear, the name will make him move to some communist country, where he is a son-in-law. Call it desperation and deception. The story is told of how this, our eloquent guy and baby faced Minister was so stingy during his tenure that he never dropped a coin. While he claimed his totem was a lion, many thought there must have been a terrible mix up, he should have been a Bataleuer Eagle (Chapungu). This eagle never drops a feather. It is stingy.

The story is told of how, in one of his escapades on national duty, in Rwanda, that mountainous Kigali, the then minister so pissed off his delegation members with his stingy antics. He had done in before wherever they went. He boarded taxis with members of his delegation and each time he would alight from the taxi, straighten up his designer suits and walk on without paying.

This particular day they decided to fix him. They left him behind in his room and when it was too late for the meeting, they told him they were already at the venue. He had no option, but to board a commuter motorbike to beat congestion. And, there he was, clinging precariously on the back of the biker to the venue in his designer suits, his heart pounding with fear and anxiety. What with the bike slithering and promenading in the hairpin curves, rises and falls of the roads in Kigali? Juxtapose that with the comfort in the Ministerial Mercedes Benz back home.

The corpses from across the Limpopo
Well, today the juicy ones seem to come from across the Limpopo. There is this one bus company, now notoriously known for illegally repatriating corpses of our dear departed from South Africa into our motherland. Many of our brothers and sisters, despite lying to us that things are well with them down south, they are not living well. Most of them, also make a lot of noise on social media deriding their homeland, but upon being called by their maker, want to come back home for decent burial. With no funeral policy, no papers (permit) and no savings, the relatives need to carry the bodies back home. Now, this local bus company, is famed for having the most ramshackle of the buses that cross the Limpopo to and fro and is despised by many cross border travellers to the point where its earnings were now dwindling.

It has now found is feet in illegal transportation of corpses. They say other bodies are stashed in fridges, fridges of which are later sold cheaply in Zimbabwe. The fridge, they say, is the grand coffin of that business. Zimra does not open. In some cases bodies are hidden in boot before groceries of cross border traders are stashed to cover up. You see the owners of the corpses are those that stick to the bus when it breaks down on the road until everyone else is gone.

Plan B then comes in. Where does this put our Zimra? We call it turning a blind eye.

The Hallucinations of an amulet Pastor
Meanwhile we dwell on Zululand. We all know the not-so-talented Pastor Talent Chiwenga, a man who has abused the word God to belittle Government efforts. The man so loves himself and likes phoning himself. We all hate road accidents and know how lives have been lost.

Recently, the amulet pastor was driving from South Africa and had an accident after Masvingo. My heart bleeds and my condolences to those who died in the accident, including his dear wife. We wish him a seedy recovery. Normally we would let the man of cloth rest and recuperate and get over it before questioning his sanity. But beyond the condolences, Chiwenga is hallucinating and must be put is his place. He speaks of foul play and mixes it with technicalities. Firstly, he says his car broke its fan belt in Masvingo before the accident and he took more than two hours to replace it. Fair and square, man of God. His enemies broke his vehicle fan belt while he was driving.

They must have been experienced witches, very, very, very powerful. One wonders where his God, the one who gives him prophetic powers to foresee the forthcoming death of top politicians, failed to give him life-saving visions on an impending accident. But technically, his story is a pathetic lie. The accident was to happen as, by his own narrative, they were all sleepy in that car and only him was awake. He says he tried to avoid head on by flashing the other car straddling the lines, instead of simply pulling off. Defensive driving teaches you that, you don’t save your life when you flash, but when you avoid obstacles. Being knowledgeable of the word of God without being knowledgeable about survival skills does not help. If he was not speeding he could have safely avoided the oncoming car.

Where did he get all the time to observe and read and understand, let alone, record so eloquently what happened between the time he saw the encroaching vehicle and the time the car swerved towards a tree and then overturned? Again, the man of God might not know that all the videos he is posting are giving evidence that incriminates him. They can easily be used against him in a court of law. His narratives give him up as a dangerous driver, who should face his day in court. It is called culpable homicide. Did he drive with due care? May he allow himself time to recover and reconsider his situation. May he get the strength to bury his wife and relatives first and not look for non-existent ghosts and assassins. The assassins are a figment of his mind. He needs psychological help.

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