The Sunday Mail
IN my close to a decade time as a journalist, never have I covered a story of more woe than this intertwined Brown/Maraire tale of tragedy.
The predicament the family finds itself in with regards to the late Chiedza’s remains, reminds me of her mother’s funeral, Chiwoniso, back in 2013. I was there as the Maraire family ordered a closed-casket funeral under unclear circumstances at Chakohwa Village in Chimanimani as fans, friends and colleagues in the music industry bade farewell to the mbira queen.
Chiwoniso’s coffin was not even allowed into the house. I closely followed the strange burial arrangements, which saw her coffin being denied entry to the family’s Bluffhill home where she lived and the failure by family, friends and fans to conduct body-viewing.
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In Chimanimani, Sister Chi’s remains, buried after five days, had to be kept at the back of a hearse for 29 hours mostly in sweltering heat before finally being taken underground. At the time, the family said the risk of spreading a contagious disease on Chiwoniso’s body was the reason for the closed-casket burial. The explanation found no takers. In fact, it was dismissed as “malicious lies” by Chiwoniso’s close friends. Cultural experts at the time said, “That happens when the deceased’s deeds were not acceptable in the family and in society as a whole such as witchcraft or believed to have evil spirits that can bring bad omen on the children or the family.”
They said if the family had allowed the body into the house and for a proper burial complete with body-viewing, it would mean that they were accepting everything about the deceased. “What they did was to disown the spirit of that dead person, consequently, preventing it from being accepted by the ancestors. That, according to our tradition is meant to avoid calamities that are associated with that person. “Even the person’s name shall be banned from being used by the family because they do not want to be associated with it.”
Indeed, four years after Chiwoniso was laid to rest, a memorial service is still to be held. Her estate remains unresolved and the house, in which she lived in, is still being occupied by a maid, who lived with Chiwoniso until her death.
Traditionally in Zimbabwe, a year after someone’s death a ritual to appease the spirit of the dead (kurova guva) or simply the unveiling of a tombstone is done — in Chiwoniso’s case, it has not.
Considering that Chiedza, a blossoming teenage mbira player, took her own life; could the Maraires ever have allowed her be to buried in Chimanimani? Just what led the young singer, painter, sculptor and mbira player, presumably living a comfortable life in the USA, to take her own life? Her sister Chengeto, an American citizen, roams the streets of Harare trying to launch a music career in a land where veteran musicians are finding it hard to earn a living. What could be wrong with her?
After the burial of Chiwoniso in 2013, I concluded one of my stories like this: “While the squabbling family has managed to hide whatever secrets their family harbours, it is the children who are eager to take up their mother’s legacy that should be feared for. With Chengeto (16) and Chiedza (13) all still school-going with a family divided not just by thousands of miles but opinion and beliefs as well, without a father, mother, grandmother or grandfather — what will become of them?”
