Two Rusape brothers die after falling ill following ice cream; police seek stepmother
Two brothers from Rusape have died at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals in Harare after developing severe stomach pains and vomiting following ice cream, while police seek their stepmother for questioning about the circumstances surrounding their deaths.
Emmanuel Makarimai, 14, and his younger brother Tanaka, 12, were pupils at Mabvazuwa Primary School. Emmanuel was in Grade Seven and Tanaka was in Grade Five. The boys died on Thursday, 5 November, after being taken to the Harare hospital for treatment.
The incident is being treated as suspected food poisoning. The available accounts do not identify a substance or establish that the ice cream had been deliberately contaminated. Police are reported to be looking for Vimbai Mushava, the boys’ stepmother, and want to question her about what happened. She is said to have disappeared from the hospital before the children were admitted.
The account of the journey to hospital has emerged through the school’s headmaster, Bennedict Dadaya. He said the school understood that the boys had been staying with their stepmother and that she had taken them to Harare. The group was reportedly given a lift by a driver, who later brought the children to Parirenyatwa after they began to fall ill.
Dadaya said the older boy had stopped attending lessons after completing his examinations. Tanaka was last seen at school on Monday. From the following day, he was absent, and staff had not been told why he was away or where he was. The information the school later received placed both boys with their stepmother and in Harare, but it did not give staff a clear account of the events that led to the hospital trip.
“The elder brother was not attending school since he had finished writing examinations. The Grade Five pupil last reported to school on Monday. From Tuesday onwards he was absent and we had no information on why he was not attending and his whereabouts. I am told that they were staying with a step mother. I heard she took them to Harare. It is said they were given a lift by an individual. The children ate some ice cream and started vomiting and complaining of severe stomach aches. The driver rushed the mother and the children to Parirenyatwa Hospital. Whilst at the hospital it is said the mother disappeared before they were admitted. The driver is the one who did the paper work for the children to be attended. We are so saddened as a school to lose such young souls. We are devastated,” said Mr Dadaya.
The headmaster’s account describes the driver as the person who took the sick children to the hospital and completed the admission paperwork after the stepmother was no longer there. It does not identify the driver by name or explain how the lift was arranged. The children’s father is reported to be living in Poland.
The account leaves several practical questions unanswered: what the boys ate and when, how soon their symptoms began, and what happened between their becoming ill and their arrival at the hospital. No confirmed toxic substance has been publicly identified in the details available so far. The reported sequence, however, is clear: the boys ate ice cream, began vomiting and complaining of severe stomach pain, were driven to Parirenyatwa, and died there on Thursday.
At Mabvazuwa Primary, the deaths have brought grief to a school already trying to understand the younger boy’s sudden absence. Dadaya said staff had not known why Tanaka missed class from Tuesday. Emmanuel had completed his examinations and was no longer attending lessons, he said. The school’s first information about the boys’ illness and journey came after the tragedy had unfolded.
Dadaya described the loss as devastating for the school. His words reflected the shock of losing two pupils within the same family, aged 14 and 12, at a time when one had just completed examinations and the other had only recently been in class. The school has not provided further details about the boys’ home arrangements or the trip to Harare.
Police are seeking Mushava to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the deaths. Reports say she left the hospital before the boys were admitted. That account is central to the police search, while the driver’s role in bringing the children for medical attention is described by the headmaster. No further police statement setting out the investigation’s findings has been made available in the reported details.
The suspected poisoning comes a little over a year after another fatal incident in Zimbabwe in which several people became ill after food and drink were consumed at a gathering. In October 2025, two children, aged three and seven, died after a traditional ceremony in Mashava, Masvingo Province. Police said attendees had eaten sadza and drunk mahewu before people developed stomach pains. Four children and seven adults were reported to be in critical condition at Masvingo General Hospital, while three others were receiving treatment at Mashava Clinic.
The Mashava incident involved a gathering and a number of people becoming ill; the Rusape case concerns two brothers who fell ill after eating ice cream. The details reported in the two cases are different, and the earlier event does not establish what caused the boys’ illness. In the Rusape case, the immediate focus remains on the boys’ final journey to hospital and the questions police want to put to their stepmother.
Emmanuel and Tanaka were both young pupils from the same school and family. Their deaths at Parirenyatwa ended a sequence that began with an unexplained absence from class for Tanaka, continued with a trip to Harare and an urgent hospital visit, and left their school mourning two brothers. Police are searching for Mushava as they seek further information about what took place before, during and after the children became ill.