Mberengwa family robbed of a corpse to bury
By Mpedzegwa Wamavana
A Mberengwa family has been plunged into double mourning as they found themselves grieving for both the soul and body of their dearly departed.
Pararai villagers, in Chief Chingoma, congregated to mourn and bury the deceased, Patience Shoko, but did not have the ‘luxury’ of a corpse, after a giant crocodile dragged it into Mundi-Mataga Dam.
The community had nothing much to bury because the reptile disappeared into the deep waters with the body leaving only a small part of the remains.
“Hapana chekuviga, nekuti Ngwena yakaenda nemutumbi wese, ikasiya chipisi chituku, saka ndicho chatichangochererawo murinda,” lamented a family as he addresses mourners during an emotionally charged burial function which was attended by Zimbabwe Observer.
“Zvakaoma,” is all that the tearful mourners could say.
Peshi, as he was affectionately known in the village met his untimely death when he was fishing at the recently built dam, which stretches for three kilometres from Mataga Growth Point to Rushavane Mountain. The dam is a huge source of tasty bream fish to communities around Mataga and beyond. Villagers from as far as Msume, Makwava, Chaora and Vumukwana frequent the dam to fish using fishing nets and rods, exposing themselves to crocodile fatal attacks.
Villagers told Zimbabwe Observer that four other people perished in the jaws of the Mataga-Mundi Dam reptiles this year alone.
“He is not the only one, four other people were killed this year at that dam. And we wonder when the wildlife department will get rid of the crocodiles that are now used to eating human flesh,” complained one villager, who preferred not to be identified.
Zimbabwe Observer contacted the newly elected MP of Mberengwa South Tasara Hungwe seeking an update of steps being taken by his office to help the community but had not yet responded to questions sent to him by the time of publishing this story.
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