The Sunday Mail
Among the things on display in Mutare Museum’s culture section are four small items that are easy to miss: a small bottle and three plastic containers.
Inside the containers are what are believed to be man-made bolts of lightning created for witchcraft purposes.
In the bottle are small wooden splinters tied together by a rope as well as what appear to be particles from a crushed animal teeth.
Museum officials speculate that the teeth particles might belong to an antbear/aardvark, an animal often associated with witchcraft.
A black bushbuck horn, an unknown liquid and ashes are some of the substances in the other containers.
Mutare Museum heritage education officer Mr Kainos Mukonavanhu says: “A family from Nyanga surrendered these items saying that they were lightning-producing ingredients that were left behind by a deceased family member.
“The family said it did not want to be associated with such black magic, hence the decision to hand it over to the museum.”
According to Mr Mukonavanhu, the family said their deceased relative once had the power to “manufacture “lightning.
Sekuru Dirwai, a traditional healer based in Fombe, Nyanga, said: “The art of producing lightning has its origins in Mozambique. That is the reason why the majority of the people that are capable of producing lightning reside near the Mozambican border.”
Sekuru Dirwai promised The Sunday Mail a demonstration on how to make a lightning bolt – but then changed his mind.
“If someone from my area says ‘tichaonana maenza kwati kunaya’ (I will deal with you in the rainy season), you must make sure that you resolve your differences with that person before the onset of the rainy season,” he added.
Scientifically, lightning is a sudden electrostatic discharge that occurs during a thunderstorm. The discharge occurs between electrically charged regions of a cloud, between two clouds, or between a cloud and the ground.
Studies continue on harnessing electricity from lightning strikes.
But perhaps all that is needed is for someone to talk to the occultists to produce the lightning for them.
