A SPIRIT medium early this week helped villagers recover the body of a girl killed during Cyclone Idai-induced floods at Dzingire Growth Point, popularly known as Kopa in Chipinge, where over 300 people are feared dead after a whole residential suburb was swept away last week.
BY Everson Mushava/Tapiwa Zivira
The body of a 14-year-old was recovered shortly after President Emmerson Mnangagwa flew into the area on Wednesday to meet villagers and assess the damage caused by the devastating floods.
The woman believed to be in her sixties shocked the devastated villagers still grappling to come to terms with the effects of the floods, when she went into a trance and led people to a spot where she claimed one of the bodies was buried.
She led the villagers to a place along the river now passing through what used to be a residential area at the confluence of Rusitu, Nyahode and Chipita rivers.
The residential place is now covered by huge rocks and sand after the weekend floods left a trail of destruction.
“The woman became possessed and led us here. The spirit said its relative was buried under the sand and we are trying to recover the body,” one villager, Timothy Dhliwayo, said.
NewsDay witnessed the woman sitting restlessly next to a group of men who were digging up the spot.
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Some of the villagers stopped NewsDay from interviewing her, claiming she was in a trance. The bare-footed woman looked determined.
The men spent the morning removing a huge tree deposited on the spot before digging up to recover the body that was decomposing.
The villagers immediately sought the help of the soldiers who came, poured water on the sand-socked body to allow for physical identification.
Mnangagwa arrived when hordes of villagers were thronging the place to try to identify the deceased girl.
“This is shocking. The possessed woman was here since morning. Some people thought she was mad but, a lot of strange things are happening. Even this flood, it is a strange thing. How can over 300 people perish like this?” one woman only identified as Gogo asked.
Many villagers are still waiting for closure on what happened to their relatives.
