The Sunday Mail
Veronica Gwaze
Death is a mystery. And sometimes how people die adds to the mystery.
Consider the car accident that claimed six lives in Mt Hampden a fortnight ago. Six fishermen died on the same spot that their car had experienced a mechanical fault just 24 hours earlier.eath is a mystery. And sometimes how people die adds to the mystery.
Was the fault foreshadowing the next day’s tragedy?
Then there is the case of the death of 15-year-old rugby starlet Lennox Chongozhoro.
In the days prior to his death, Lennox is said to have been acting strangely, more mature for his age and was more interested in watching afterlife movies like “Heaven is for Real”.
I too have had my encounters with the mystery of death.
One day in April 2010, my father called me for the third time in a week asking to see him before his “departure”.
He was not ill and I assumed he was simply referring to one of normal monthly trips to South Africa.
An hour and eight minutes after that third call, he had departed – he was dead. May his soul rest in peace.
Do people know they are about to die? Are there signs telling someone that their time is up?
University of Zimbabwe-based psychologist McDonald Matika says from an Afrocentric persective, “Culturally these forces exist.”
He goes on: “Apart from culture, there are certain things that happen . . . One can talk of seeing a bright white light and back then elders would know these are indications of death.”
The brain, he says, has an amazing ability to capture information both consciously and subconsciously. Matika says this subconscious interaction works like a “sixth sense”.
“At times we might not be aware that our sixth sense is trying to tell us something while at times some even ignore it. Hours or days before death, people can start to speak in metaphors of their journey.
“They do not see death as an end but rather as a journey or a trip which makes it difficult for us to grasp the meaning. In some cases, others say these are mere delusional and febrile mutterings of no importance. Although some say people seek patterns by nature and put them together in weird, inaccurate ways, but even from the study of animals, they can actually feel they are about to die and so they go away into hiding and die quietly.
“Inasmuch as these instances can be questioned, some of them are vivid and . . . cannot be all delusions.”
UZ chairperson in the Department of Sociology, Professor Claude Mararike, talks of an “anthropic space” that every individual occupies.
“It is this anthropic space which gives us hints of danger ahead and this is like the sixth sense. Traditionally ‘hana yemunhu’ notifies them of what is about to befall them but the level of consciousness then varies from person to person,” he says.
But these “anthropic space” warnings are clouded by alcohol and extreme anger, which can blind awareness and sensitivity.
Prof Mararike says: “When one is drunk, the person’s readiness, preparedness, willingness, awareness and the person’s ability is gone thus the entire anthropic space is unheard.”
Some people talk of actual physical warnings from the spirit realm.
“Elders knew when a squirrel crossed the road ahead of you thrice, it was an indication of danger ahead and, therefore, they had to suspend the journey even if they were already halfway,” adds Prof Mararike.
Pastor Blessing Makwara from Revival Ministries International says humans are living spirits with bodies and souls, and they often know when their time is nigh.
“Jesus knew the time of his death and prepared for it. He even cried, committing his spirit into the hands of his Father and then died,” he says.
He points to the example of people who “struggle” to die because they first need to get something of their chests.
“After confession they die. This is an indication of spiritual reality that we are conscious when our time of death is imminent. Even Paul the Apostle knew his time was up. He said, ‘I am torn between staying with you and going to be with the Father’.”
Pr Absalom Ncube of the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe refers to the biblical story of Prophet Elijah and his servant when they were surrounded by a huge Syrian army. Through spiritual eyes, Elijah saw victory and assured his servant that they would conquer the army.
“These are eyes that see beyond human eye and likewise when one is about to die, they see and feel it. The problem is that only the victim can see or feel this. Sometimes friends and relatives become an influence, resulting in them ignoring these warnings,” he says.
City of God Apostolic Church pastor Rodrick Chiriya says unseen forces exist but oftentimes people do not pay attention to them.
He narrates how Pr Nigel Kakunguwo bid farewell in his last sermon, which was based on 2 Timothy 4:7.
“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course and I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown . . . Finishing his sermon, Pastor Kakunguwo bid farewell and, indeed, that was the last we saw him alive. Unseen forces really exist but we are often clouded by so much that we think nothing like that exists,” he says.
Admit Malik Musademba, a Muslim, also believes people know they are about to die.
“Many start talking about death more often towards their death, they sometimes start giving advice to the people close to them and sometimes they even give confessions. A person meets an Angel of Death before they die, only the victim can see this and it is to give them the chance to have prayer before they die but often we tend to ignore all this,” he says.
