The Sunday Mail
Tendai Chara
On January 10, 2013; five people, including a traditional healer, died in a mysterious blast in Zengeza 2, Chitungwiza.
The scene of the blast was particularly gruesome, with burnt bodies and limbs strewn all over.
At least twelve houses were left with various degrees of damage.
Commonly referred to as the “Chitungwiza blast”, the tragedy made international news headlines.
But up to this day, the events surrounding the blast remain unclear.
For a long time, security officials remained mum on the cause of the mysterious blast, fuelling speculation in the process.
A number of theories regarding the source of the blast were put forward.
Traditional healers claimed that the tragedy occurred during a cleansing ceremony in which a goblin was beheaded.
It was widely believed that a transport operator, Mr Clever Kamuyedza approached 24-year-old traditional healer, Mr Speakmore Mandere, seeking help to dispose the troubling goblin.
He was said to have brought with him $15 000 as payment for the ritual.
Locals alleged that Mr Nyamudeza had acquired a goblin to attain wealth.
He then decided to dispose of the goblin after it started making “extreme demands.”
Whilst a section of the local community insisted that the explosion was caused by some supernatural powers associated with goblins, others believed it had been caused by “lightning manufacturing”.
Another section believed that the blast was caused by explosives that detonated at the house.
An announcement by the police further heightened the speculation.
In a statement, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba said, “It came to the police’s attention that grenades and other explosives had of late been a source of money for some unscrupulous dealers.”
“Preliminary investigations show that the blast was due to explosives. We therefore, need to be very cautious. We are still conducting more investigations, but people are getting excited and are buying explosives because they have mercury. They (explosives) are designed to explode and cause serious injury and death. We now have three cases in Waterfalls, Chitungwiza and Manicaland.”
Police maintained that the dealers sought to extract red mercury from the explosives, adding that the red mercury would then be sold for a fortune on the black market.
The statement attracted social media attention, with people described red mercury as a hoax.
Most people argued that the police failed to prove “beyond reasonable doubt ’’ that the people that perished in the blast were dealing in red mercury.
A mysterious clay pot that was not destroyed in the blast attracted debate.
People questioned how the pot remained intact when steel pots that were in the house were completely destroyed.
The pot has since been associated with black magic.
But contributing on social media, a blogger gave a scientific reason.
“The clay pot has a better structural integrity than the steel pot. This explains why dams are made in curves. Pots only break on resonance, even gas cylinders and bottles are made up of curved surfaces to improve structural integrity. So technically, it is possible for a clay pot to survive a bomb blast,” wrote the blogger.
Up until this day, the source of the Chitungwiza blast is debatable.
Those that perished in the blast took their secret to their graves.
