Over 100 graves at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare were desecrated this week by unidentified individuals, whose motives remain unknown.
Chief Parks and Cemeteries Officer Godfrey Batsirai Munetsi told ZimLive on Thursday that the people have been entering the cemetery at night since Tuesday this week and damaging tombstones. Said Munetsi:
We have no concrete leads or the motive behind the desecration of graves but we cannot rule out witchcraft because there are a lot of these that happen during the night in cemeteries.
It could be about rituals as evidenced by a previous case at a Mbare cemetery where a mentally deranged man would destroy tombstones with crucifixes only.
We have alerted the police and also continue to monitor because strange movements continue to happen during the night.
It is suspected that this is the work of more than one person given that more than 100 graves have been damaged in only three days.
Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) president George Kandiero said that witchcraft cannot be ruled out. He said:
A lot of things happen especially nowadays where people are in a rush for money and power.
They can be ordered by sorceresses to destroy graves in order to accumulate power and wealth.
One Theresa Nyoni told ZimLive that she unveiled her late father’s tombstone in December last year and she was shattered to find it damaged. She said:
This is honestly disturbing to see after just four months of the tombstone unveiling,” she told ZimLive.
God will punish these criminals and we are going to get to the bottom of all this.
In April 2022, thieves stole thousands of memorial plaques from Warren Hills Cemetery in two months.
The City of Harare officials overseeing the cemetery said they suspected that the thieves were selling the expensive brass plaques to scrap metal dealers.
The metals would use the brass to make various jewellery items such as rings and bracelets.
In Zimbabwe, violating graves or corpses is criminalised under sections 110 and 111 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23] which says:
110 Violating graves
Any person who violates a grave in which human remains are situated, knowing that he or she is doing so or realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she may be doing so, shall be guilty of violating a grave and liable to a fine not exceeding level seven or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year or both.
111 Violating corpses
(1) Any person who damages, mutilates, removes pieces from or otherwise violates a dead human body, knowing that he or she is doing so or realising that there is a real risk or possibility that he or she may be doing so, shall be guilty of violating a corpse and liable to a fine up to or exceeding level fourteen or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years or both.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), it shall be lawful for any person;
(a) to remove tissue from or carry out a post-mortem examination on or otherwise deal with a dead human body in accordance with the Inquests Act [Chapter 7:07], the Anatomical Donations and Post-mortem Examinations Act [Chapter 15:01], or any other enactment; or
(b) to do anything necessary for the purpose of embalming a dead human body or preparing it for burial, cremation or other lawful disposal.
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