The Sunday Mail
Book Review
Edmore Zvinonzwa
Imagine yourself in a hospital bed, admitted and helpless, trusting on medical personnel to provide solutions to your indisposition because at this point, you almost entirely rely on the staff for everything, including walking out of that facility alive.
Then you bump into a book like “Evil Within Us: Echoes From the Grave” —launched two weeks ago in Harare — and you surely will find yourself crawling out of the hospital.
The book is set in the Midlands province district of Mberengwa — curiously where the bulk of the story of American psychopathic and homicidal doctor Michael Swango in “Blind Eye: The Terrifying Story of a Doctor Who Got Away With Murder”, written by James B Stewart, took place.
Those who followed events then will obviously recall then Provincial Medical Director for Midlands, Christopher Zishiri — May His Dear Soul Rest In Eternal Peace — shuttling between the Health Ministry Head Office in Harare and his Gweru office after Swango had killed patients at Mnene.
Before coming to Zimbabwe, the American had escaped similar charges in his home country. While Swango had gone on to work at an operational national referral facility — Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo — Hamutendi, whose name seems symbolic (you are not thankful, in this case also possibly suggesting people are failing to believe she is the killer), is operating from a fictitious rural facility called Bwe Chena in Mberengwa.
The story of Hamutendi is unique in that it is dealing with a nurse who “enjoyed” killing while Swango was a doctor.
Perhaps what is striking about this book is that it knits this story of callous cruelty with an intriguing love account between Hamutendi and Tongai Muwani — a straight forward man by any measure.
Following the death of his wife Ruramai at the hands of Hamutendi, Tongai lands into the killer’s lap to start an enigmatic love story with the cunning nurse who has been discharged from her job on account of her transgressions.
Tongai is virtually swept away by Hamutendi. “Situations change people’s behaviours, just two years down the memory lane, he was venturing on a new journey, a journey into the unknown.” (p63)
The affair with Hamutendi almost becomes a fairy tale as he is surprised that she was still a virgin.
“He saw her ripped dress on the floor, proof of how impatient he had become.
“He looked at her naked body, something violent took over his will, he behaved like an animal as he joined her. He regretted his actions later, but he thought the damage had been done and she would never look at him again.” (p69)
The whole matrix largely got shaped by the fact that she was intact. “Hamu, how come you were untouched? . . . I am not worthy of the gift, Hamutendi, I am older than you and have lived my life. I will not bring excitement into the life of a woman of your calibre. You should have kept yourself for a younger man.” (p72)
Although Tongai feels guilty over deflowering Hamutendi, the latter actually felt victorious and considered Tongai her trophy from a hunting trip which included killing his innocent wife, who ironically was her workmate.
All the same she had felt the victory she longed to achieve a long time back.
“Hamu, on the other hand, was celebrating her victory. She had known that the man who would catch her eye would deserve the gift of her purity as a woman. What a pity, Tongai thought he was in control and that that was an erroneous supposition. Hamu was cunning, he was trapped whether he acknowledged it or not.” (p75)
The chaos that follows when Hamu and her evil gang kill boys in the village confirms her evil nature and with that, Tongai’s blunder in taking her in as his wife. Among Hamutendi’s victims is Tongai’s son, ironically the one he had with Ruramai.
This is a must-read story that tells of a killer woman and a seemingly lax professional medical establishment that failed to properly monitor and halt her transgressions, which continue into the village.
Miriam Churu, who is married to Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Permanent Secretary Zvinechimwe Churu whom she credits for asking her to try and write, was born on June 3, 1962 in Mberengwa as the sixth child in a family of seven.
She attended Chomunyaka and Rengwe primary schools before proceeding to Manama Secondary School for her Form One, but was soon off to Botswana to join Zimbabwe’s liberation war effort.
Churu was taken to Zambia and then was sent to Cuba for further education between 1977 and 1986. She holds a Masters’ degree in International Marketing and is currently employed by zesa Holdings as marketing manager.
