A Marange-based prophet is alleged to have died after failing to destroy the Satanism paraphernalia that he had confiscated from a teenager in Dangamvura suburb of Mutare.
The prophet, Resai Masaka, claimed that the jewellery was cursed and he wanted to cleanse it, but he fell ill and passed away before he could do so.
He was still in possession of the jewellery.
Before his death, Masaka told his wife, Rutendo Masaka, that he had taken a necklace and a watch from an unidentified teenager who said she had received them as gifts from her b0yfriend.
The b0yfriend is alleged to have initiated the teenager into the occult world.
The jewellery was allegedly supposed to be used to kill the teenager’s parents.
After unearthing the plot, the teenager’s mother reportedly contracted Masaka to cleanse her daughter.
However, Masaka died before destroying the jewellery.
Neighbours who were interviewed by The Weekender said they suspect that greediness got the better of Masaka as he decided to keep the jewellery.
Sheila Kamutanho said she suspected that Masaka’s demise was as a result of greediness.
“Had he destroyed the jewellery the day he arrived from Mutare, maybe he would not have been affected. He kept the jewellery for three days after he had promised his clients that he would destroy it that very night.
“He should not have spent a single night with such things. Even after discovering that the jewellery was producing weird sounds, he still kept it and endangered his family’s lives in the process,” she said.
Masaka’s wife, Rutendo, said her husband arrived home last Tuesday night with the jewellery and told her not to touch it as she could die upon touching it.
“He told me that he had taken it from a teenage Satanist. At first, he failed to disclose to me that he had come with the watch and necklace, but the jewellery started ringing at night and I inquired from him the source of the sound, and he let the cat out of the bag. He should have destroyed it the next morning, but he woke up unwell,” she said.
Rutendo said before his death, her husband told several people that his demise was nigh.
Masaka was found lying on the ground last Friday night with an energy drink bottle in his hands.
On his back was his satchel, while he was also carrying a bucket.
After reporting the matter to Headman Kamutanho, the family was advised to seek spiritual counsel.
They consulted Tinayi Mamvura, popularly known as Madzibaba Skylodge, and he prayed before removing the jewellery.
However, the man of cloth insisted that the cause of Masaka’s death was not because of the jewellery he had been holding, but was a result of an avenging spirit of a man who was poisoned to death by his mother and grandmother.
In an interview, Madzibaba Skylodge said: “The family believes that Masaka died as result of a Satanism attack, but that is not the case. The spirit told me that even though he had Satanism ornaments in his possession, his death was as a result of an avenging spirit of a man who was killed at their homestead a long time ago.
“I asked his aunts and they confirmed that a person was killed by their sister long back, but the matter was kept as a secret,” he said.
Madzibaba Skylodge said the spirit demanded that one cow, a white cloth, a green cloth and a plate be used to appease him at a river.
“The man who was killed was from Zambia and he knows that the Masaka family will not be able to locate his family in his native country because of lack of resources, hence the order for them to do the rituals at a river,” he said.
— Manica Post
