HIGH drama is unfolding in Gokwe in a case that will put the national healing process to the test. The script goes like this: A man is murdered in a highly politically polarised community; the alleged murderers are known but are connected to powerful individuals.

A year on the body of the victim is rotting in an inefficient mortuary because his people won’t bury him until the families of the murderers admit to the crime and perform traditional rites.

But the community is also highly superstitious and believe in ngozi — the vengeful wrath of an aggrieved spirit.

Already claims abound that the victim is taking personal vengeance on the perpetrators and visitors to the mortuary have claimed sighting him resurrected and seated on his coffin contemplating his next move. Needless to say, the community is in the grip of fear.

The question is: What is to be done to solve the problem, reconcile and heal the community?

A provision in the global political agreement (GPA) that set up the inclusive government last year constituted the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration.

This was in recognition of the political violence that had accompanied the 2008 harmonised elections particularly during the period leading to the June 27 presidential election run-off pitting President Mugabe and Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

The organ said the process of healing would be done according to everyone’s customs and religious beliefs. It went on a two-month nation-wide consultation meeting community leaders, chiefs, faith-based leaders and civil society “in order to ensure full participation of the public and exploring with them potential mechanisms to implement a national healing and reconciliation process”.

The organ led by three ministers, one each from the three parties that signed the GPA — Zanu PF, MDC-T and MDC — should now be in the process of meeting local, regional and international experts to assist it with “formulating recommendations for appropriate mechanisms to be in place” to help implement the national healing process.

But in the Gokwe saga they have got a test case.

MDC-T activist Moses Chokuda was allegedly murdered on March 22 last year by two prominent Zanu PF members, named as Farai Machaya and Edmore Gana following a dispute over goodies donated by the First Lady Grace Mugabe at Masakadza, some 50 km from Gokwe centre.

The two alleged killers are said to have diverted the items — which included foodstuffs, wheelchairs and Zanu PF regalia — to their shops at the centre, prompting an outcry from other members of the community, who included Chokuda.

The goods ended up in Gawa, where the suspected assailants caught up with Chokuda and accused him of breaking into their shops and stealing the goods. They bundled him into an official Zanu PF vehicle and he was never seen alive again.

The alleged perpetrators are sons of Midlands governor Jason Machaya and Zanu PF district coordinating committee (DCC) chairperson for Gokwe, Isaac Gana.

One year on, the body is still stuck at the mortuary and there is no indication of it being buried any time soon.

Following the murder, Moses’ father, Tavengwa Chokuda says he invited the governor and other Zanu PF officials to discuss the matter with the hope of finding an amicable solution.

But this has not yielded anything. Chokuda says he wants the provincial party heavyweights to swallow their pride and apologise. “There is no way I can bury my son when Machaya and Gana have not apologised,” said Chokuda.

Chokuda says what pains him the most is the fact that he knew of his son’s murder by chance and the whereabouts of his son’s friend who disappeared on the same day are still unknown.

Chokuda alleges that instead of investigating the murder and arresting the murderers the police are harassing him by demanding that he take his son’s body for burial. “I told them that I could not just go ahead with the burial without getting an explanation from Machaya and Gana, since their sons had actually been using a party vehicle when they committed the offence.

But Machaya says there is no way he could facilitate the burial. He recently told The Standard that burying the deceased was entirely the bereaved family’s responsibility, and it would be illegal for him to facilitate it.

“The matter is before the courts, and we should allow the courts to do their job.” said Machaya after fellow Zanu PF officials complained that the issue had damaged the reputation of the party.

Gana also said he would not assist because according to him, his son was in fact the victim, as the deceased and his friends had broken into his shops.

Disputing this claim, Chokuda said there was never a break-in. “They claim that there was a theft, but there is not even a police report to prove that”.

Chokuda vowed the family would not bury the body, believed to be now a mere skeleton, until Machaya and his cronies seek forgiveness. And he believes his dead son is helping him “sort them out”.

“They tried to send a councillor and two other people to secretly remove the body from the mortuary, but when they got there, they found my dead son sitting on top of his metal coffin.

“Very often, people tell me he (the dead Moses) has been seen at some places. They (the families of the alleged murderers) have tried to exorcise the avenging spirit by enlisting the services of different traditional healers, but all this has not worked.”

The murder is recorded under police records CR No. 130/03/09. No dates have been set for the trial, prompting speculation that Machaya might be using his political muscle to block proceedings, a claim he denies.

Midlands police spokesperson Patrick Chademana refused to give details on the case.

BY VUSUMUZI SIFILE

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