By Everson Mushava/Tapiwa Zivira
Their relatives have been missing for two weeks and efforts have now shifted from finding them alive to giving them decent burials.
It is a Wednesday afternoon and Dzingire Township, popularly known as Kopa, is teeming with people of all sorts, the majority coming to receive food aid.
But for Sonai Mwayera, food is a luxury. Her desire is to get closure to the fate of her many relatives who went missing in the devastation of Cyclone Idai.
They can’t be alive after two weeks and the gravity of damage on what used to be the residential area, now covered by huge boulders has all but killed hope that any missing person could be found alive.
But the dead have to be found and accorded decent burials.
“My son, those things you are holding, can’t they be used to see through the ground so that we can recover the bodies of our relatives buried underground by the floods,” Mudzokera asked, referring to cameras The Standard photographer was holding.
Her face looked pale, like someone who had gone for days without food and water.
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Her clothes were dirty and she looked like someone who had gone ages without bathing.
Mwayera’s physical appearance showed the emotional torture the woman has gone through since the floods stole her brother, her sister-in-law and their three children.
Throughout the conversation, Mwayera looked at the huge boulders that have now taken the place where her brother’s house used to be before the floods wreaked havoc at the confluence of Nyahode, Rusitu and Chipita rivers.
At least 80 houses and a police station were swept away, leaving over 300 people unaccounted for.
“I am sure they are buried under the sand and those huge stones. We know they are no longer alive, but at least, the best that can happen is for us to get their bodies and give them a decent burial,” the dejected woman said, her eyes filled with tears.
Mwayera has been sleeping outside on the veranda of one of the shops across the river opposite what used to be the township.
During the day the family mills around the huge stones in the hope of finding the bodies of their relatives. Desperation is written all over her face.
Mwayera is pleading with government to assist them find the remains of their relatives.
She is not alone in her situation.
Another Kopa resident, Joice Mudzokora said they were certain their relatives were buried within the area.
“I am sure the missing people are buried under the sand. We recovered a baby in the sand and we are sure they are buried here,” she said.
“We wish there was a machine like those ones used to detect gold underground that can be used to detect bodies.”
People with relatives who perished in the disaster are always milling around the area, hoping rescue will come after a spirit medium reportedly pointed at a place and claimed over 65 people were under that ground.
“After a possessed lady led to the recovery of a body, most people now believe that the spirit medium was telling the truth and are desperate to have the place excavated to recover the bodies of their relatives,” one villager, Tawanda Manzini said.
“A lot of people perished and some of them were simply here visiting.
“There are brothers who came here to pay lobola who were washed away by the floods.
“Relatives of a police officer who was also washed away are always here.
“A man who had come from Harare for the weekend was swept away by the floods with his wife and children. Their bodies are yet to be found.”
Tatenda Zhambe (25), an unemployed teacher said he lost two sisters and was desperate to have their bodies recovered.
“We call on government to bring sniffer dogs as quickly as possible. I lost two sisters and we don’t know where they are,” he said.
Zhambe said sniffer dogs would help to get more bodies — estimated to be over 100 — before they rot.
