‘World of the dead has been invaded’

02 Oct, 2022 - 00:10 0 Views
‘World of the dead  has been invaded’

The Sunday Mail

RHUMBA music filled the air as waist-wiggling women performed lewd dance routines right inside the Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare last Saturday.

A sizeable crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle and cheered the dancers on, while others got absorbed in the fun and could be seen joining the nimble-footed women who were doing justice to Kanda Bongoman’s smash hit “Indé Monie”.

Quick investigations revealed that friends and relatives of a person who lies buried in the cemetery had hired a dance troupe for a memorial service.

Welcome to some of the happenings at cemeteries around the country.

Forget about eerie tales associated with the dead, cemeteries have largely been turned into places of fun and business.

If the dead could speak, I am sure they would write voluminous books on the living, who often visit to defile and disturb their place of rest.

It is now no longer unusual to walk into a cemetery to find people braaing meat, quaffing beers and relaxing on graves, all in the name of remembering their departed friends and relatives.

The world of the dead has been invaded by pleasure seekers, who do not seem to know their limits.

“My brother was a happy man. He loved his rhumba music and we are remembering him today. No one can stop us. Asvotwa ngaarutse,” a sloshed middle-aged man could be heard saying as he staggered around graves.

Some fearless people could be seen lying on the grave.

Hapatyise pano apa. Ndipo parere sekuru vangu,” a woman could be heard saying while turning on her back as if to find a comfortable position to sleep on, atop the tomb.

What is shocking is that all these things take place in broad daylight.

Workmen who maintain graves in the cemetery said they see a lot on an average day.

“There is a lot that happens here. People no longer respect the dead as we sometimes find them being intimate in the cemetery. Vendors also store cabbages, tomatoes and onions they will be selling as they hide them from the authorities. They come back regularly to replenish their stock after selling out their goods.

“It was worse during the days of lockdowns as guzzlers would buy their booze and drink it from here as no police officers would come to chase them away. This place is so quiet that even students from the nearby community come to read their books here,” said a groundsman who, however, spoke on condition of anonymity.

Workmen at the graveyard also make huge sums of money from families of people buried there, who want the graves of their loved ones maintained.

“We normally do not charge for our services.

“People simply give us tokens of appreciation for planting lawns, flowers and ensuring no one visits the graves for rituals. At first, we were afraid but we are now used to this business,” said the worker.

He also spoke of n’angas, prophets and widows who regularly visit the cemetery for rituals.

“As blacks, we have many cultural beliefs, which results in prophets and n’angas coming here to conduct rituals. Some people actually offer us money to look the other side as they bath atop graves or sprinkle muti on the graves.

“Widows seeking permission to move on sometimes also come here with their prophets. There are also people in deep grief who frequent this place and all we do is offer them the comfort they need to soldier on in life.”

Children of deceased people desperate for marriage and jobs are also regular visitors to cemeteries.

The cemetery workers said they sometimes play the role of the United Nations, that of solving disputes, because fights usually break out in cemeteries as family members clash over the execution of some rituals or post-burial processes.

Vendors were reported to frequent cemeteries, where they sell refreshments and other items like signposts and flowers to mourners.

Gentle reader, if you thought cemeteries were bereft of activity, you stand to be corrected.

Inotambika mughetto.

Feedback: rosenthal.mutakati @zimpapers.co.zw

 

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