The Sunday Mail
Stranger Than Fiction
Tendai Chara
MURAMBINDA Growth Point, which is located in Buhera, Manicaland, is one of the country’s fastest growing urban centres.
The sprawling settlement, which is working towards attaining town status, is one of the two designated urban areas in Buhera district, the other one being Birchenough Bridge.
A yesteryear hit song by the late Paul Mpofu, titled “Murambinda”, helped to a greater extent put the normally sleepy urban settlement onto the spotlight.
But apart from the song and its development, Murambinda has of late been a major talking point following a road accident which recently claimed the lives of 16 passengers.
Although the horror crash that involved a commuter omnibus and a haulage truck occurred some kilometres away along the Chivhu/Masvingo highway in Featherstone, it reminded Murambinda residents of two other serious accidents that they can easily relate to.
The Featherstone accident happened barely five months after a Murambinda woman had been involved in two other serious road accidents — one in Musina, South Africa and the other one on the Harare/Beitbridge highway, resulting in more than 30 people losing their lives.
While other passengers lost their lives, some were seriously injured. However, the Murambinda woman came out of all the three calamities unscathed.
As word of the unfortunate woman began to spread, some members of the local community began accusing her of being a member of a satanic cult, which was widely believed to be causing the accidents.
Questions were raised on how the woman, a cross-border vendor, had been involved in the serious accidents.
Many wonder how the woman escaped unhurt in three separate accidents despite the serious nature of the crashes.
Conversely, some members of the Murambinda community are sympathising with her, arguing that the woman has just been finding herself at the wrong place and at the wrong time.
Three months after the recent accident, Murambinda residents are still questioning the woman’s involvement in the accidents.
Sekuru Friday Chisanyu, a traditional healer, struggled to explain this unusual phenomenon.
“Such cases are rare and can be attributed to two factors. It’s either this woman is part of a satanic cult or she was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. In my view, her ancestors came to her rescue and saved her life,” he said.
According to the traditional healer, during the war of liberation there were similar instances when freedom fighters escaped death in mysterious circumstances.
“We have fighters who miraculously survived when they were ambushed by enemy forces. In one such incident, one fighter somehow managed to dodge a hail of bullets. We will never understand this phenomenon if we try to use common sense,” explained Sekuru Chisanyu.
In scientific terms, the law of probability can be applied in this case.
Probability is a measure quantifying the likelihood of an event occuring.
Was the Murambinda woman, on three separate occasions, at the wrong place and time?
Sadly, the woman, who has since relocated, could not give her side of the story.
We will probably never know what she attributes these strange occurances to.
As of now, what we know for sure is that we have an unsolved mystery and a bizarre story that awaits a logical conclusion.
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