Most villagers in Machona area of Chisumbanje in Chipinge South are still failing to come to terms with the incident in which Charles Ndlovu (24), of the same village, exhumed his late mother Miriam Matibe’s body for unknown reasons.

Matibe died in July last year and six months after burial, her body was exhumed without even a sign of decomposition.

After the exhumation, Ndlovu spent the night with the body in his house before police were called and arrested him the next day.
Police and witnesses confirmed that Matibe’s unblemished body was exhumed, having been buried six months ago.

Chipinge district police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Mupangani, said Ndlovu was arrested and was assisting the police with investigations.

“Charles Ndlovu exhumed his mother’s body six months after burial and it was perplexing to note that the body was just as it was at the time it was buried. Police in Chisumbanje attended the scene and arrested Ndlovu for tampering with a grave.

“We are not even aware of the motives behind the act. He will appear in court soon. Police could not allow for a post-mortem, as they feared that the process would take long, so they ordered Matibe to be re-buried,” said Asst Insp Mupangani.

Close relatives said during the night of January 15, Ndlovu armed with a four-litre oil can, dug his mother’s grave, but could not finish exhuming it on the same night.

Ndlovu’s sister-in-law, Sibongile Tamboonei, who was present when the accused brought his mother’s body home, said Ndlovu only managed to exhume the body the following night.

Tamboonei, who was also still grappling to come to terms with this incident, said she also failed to understand how her mother-in-law’s body failed to decompose six months after burial.

She is also not aware of Ndlovu’s motives. “I saw him (Ndlovu) at around 9pm coming from the direction of the village’s graveyard carrying a blanket in his hands. As he drew closer, I noticed that this was the same blanket, which we used to wrap my late mother-in-law’s body before burial.

“I also noticed that Ndlovu was carrying something heavy wrapped in that blanket. That is when I started suspecting that he might have exhumed his mother.

“He went straight to his hut and left the body there. He then came to my hut and ordered me to help him wash his hands.
“As he came towards my hut, he left the door to his hut open and because of the bright moon, I noticed that my late mother-in-law was lying in his hut.

“It seemed as if he had already bathed her. He (Ndlovu) also removed the dress she was buried in and dressed her in church regalia before putting a wig on his head.

“I screamed and rushed to my own mother’s place to tell her about the breathtaking incident. She also could not believe me. We went back together with other relatives to see for themselves.

“We teamed up in the middle of the night to advise my elderly uncle, who then advised us to approach the village head. Early in the morning, we went to the nearby police station to report the incident.

“To my surprise, Ndlovu was not even moved by all what we were doing. He was just in the hut with the body and no-one knew what was going on inside,” she said.

When contacted for a comment, prominent traditional healer and former Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association secretary-general, Mr Alex Mashoko, said the body could have failed to decompose because “she had already been taken away before she died in July”.

Mr Mashoko said Ndlovu could have exhumed the body with the intention of conducting some rituals.”I think the son (Ndlovu) was using his mother in some rituals and that is the reason why her body never decomposed.

“The body will only decompose when the son so wishes, after he has finished using it in whatever rituals he wants to. “The other thing is that the mother had already been taken away way before she died.

Relatives and friends might have buried her dummy body when she died, but in actual fact, she had already been taken away for use in some rituals by her son.