The Sunday Mail
Emmanuel Kafe
A “killer jacket” means different things to different people. To most women it may mean a high fashion item while to a sci-fi movie fanatic it may mean an overcoat once worn by the late American serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer. But to villagers in Zimunya, Manicaland, it is a jacket that is allegedly responsible for the deaths of at least 20 people, all from the same family. A story carried sometime last year by our sister paper, The Manica Post, reported a strange case that had the Chinoona family appearing before Chief Zimunya’s court.
The family wanted the chief to order their uncle Mutsiyabako to destroy the “evil jacket”, which they believed was responsible for the death of 20 family members.
A family member, claiming to be possessed by the spirit of the family’s patriach, said their father had been murdered by the said uncle, and that the murder weapon was the evil jacket. The jacket in question is said to have become evil after the uncle, Mutsiyabako, murdered its owner. The spirit of the murdered victim then came to haunt Mutsiyabako relentlessly. Mutsiyabako is said to have tried an underworld ritual to get rid of the avenging spirit. In the said ritual he wore the jacket, before giving it to his sister so that she could pass it on to her husband Chinoona. While she claimed that the jacket was heavier than usual, Chinoona wore it anyway. Shortly after that, Chinoona got sick.
He died mysteriously in 1998. Within the same week and in a strikingly stranger than fiction episode, a case of a talking cow was reported and the Chief’s court got really busy.
However, following Chinoona’s death, his child had a strange dream and the Chinoona family went to consult a sangoma.
They were told that the evil jacket had strangled their father and was also responsible for the unusually high number of family deaths and illnesses. The sangoma advised them to destroy the jacket. However, that did not happen. Since then, eight children from the family are reported to have died while Chinoona’s wife is said to be critically ill. Mutsiyabako, the one who is said to have incensed this avenging spirit (ngozi), is now absconding court. The chief has since ordered his officers to bring Mutsiyabako in. However, he denies having a hand in any of the mysterious occurences. While a lot of mystery surrounds this case, chiefs have special ways of dealing with such issues. Chief Zimunya will certainly dig deeper until he reaches a logical conclusion.
But while we wait for further updates, beware of talking cows and heavy jackets!
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