The world is still recovering from the gory explosion that shook the sprawling town of Chitungwiza recently.
Sunday View by Justin T Makombe
Until only a few days ago, no plausible explanation had been offered for what could have caused the explosion.
Like everywhere where a mystery unfolds, many non-empirical theories have been bandied around as possible causes. Some people rushed to blame lightning for the explosion but police have confirmed the sordid event was ignited by an explosive device.
There has also been mention of the presence of red mercury at the beleaguered house which is the source of the explosion. One traditional healer unequivocally declared the explosion was triggered by a botched tokoloshe ritual. In the underworld, followers are believed to use the tokoloshe to seek or enhance riches.
In the absence of any logical explanation, everybody is bound to have their own explanation depending on who they are. But none of all these accounts are empirically validated and hence cannot be regarded as the reality of what really happened.
Reasons abound too, as to why this has happened.
Christians are quick to conclude that the explosion is a tell-tale sign that the world is coming to an end. This argument is reinforced by extraordinary climatic changes which have seen reduced water levels, increased health hazards, turbulent weather conditions characterised by flashfloods, incessant rains, sweltering temperatures and huge, recurrent climatic disasters.
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Traditionalists too have their own reasons, and they trust that the ancestors are angry with something. Whatever the cause, one thing for sure though is that Chitungwiza is not new to such kind of mysteries. Going back in history, the sprawling town has had its own fair share of mysteries or bizarre incidents.
Only recently, gold purportedly “rained” at Emmanuel Makandiwa’s church ceremony near the Aquatic Complex.
Remember also the story of the pink house in St Mary’s township, one or two years ago where it was reported that a maggot was minting money. Again, huge crowds gathered to witness this bizarre spectacle but no one ever really saw evidence of this incident.
Current affairs enthusiasts will also remember that in the 1990s, the sprawling town hogged the limelight again, when a woman in Unit K reportedly died mysteriously only to be seen “knitting doilies” at a neighbour’s house. I remember vividly rushing there to catch a glimpse of this creepy occurrence. For days on end, crowds of bystanders would not leave the adjoining houses until their curiosities dissipated without being satiated.
Again, during the 1990s, a hippopotamus set tongues wagging when it strayed into the town’s Unit M suburb in broad daylight. Hippos are naturally nocturnal and rarely walk on the mainland let alone in day light. [It turned out to be an elaborate Fool’s Day hoax by a clever newspaper photographer!]
Then the other year, there was a story of a talking baboon which got into a house somewhere in St Mary’s township, sat on a sofa and chatted with kids in the lounge before vanishing into thin air. There is just no let-up to stories of mysteries in Chitungwiza. Is it about the place or the people?
Elders in the town will tell you that mysteries are not peculiar to this suburb and the latest strange incident is not the last we have seen of them.
One typical fixation about all these mysteries is that the story behind the story or the truth of what could have really happened is sometimes never uncovered.
Perhaps that is why they are called mysteries. The fact that no one can tell what really took place makes these events mysterious.
