A Zimbabwean village has been struck with tragedy when a pastor, Shamiso Kanyama, died after he was allegedly buried alive on his instructions.
Reports states that Kanyama had asked his followers, 5 members of the same family, to bury him alive so that he could summon more cleansing powers to help cleanse their house of evil spirits.
The members of the family, has now been charged with the murder of the ‘man of God’, as they were the ones who invited the pastor to their house to help cleanse their home, believed to be plagued by mysterious deaths.
According to Zed 24 News, the country’s local newspaper, the accused family members, identified as Leanmore Mutero, Tonderai Muswere, Michael Muchengeti, Manasa Mutero and Nicholas Mutero, have been charged before the High Court in Harare for murder.
“In response to our request to perform a healing ceremony, Kanyama ordered us to dig a grave and bury him alive because that was the way he summoned more healing powers to ward off evil spirits,” they explained.
However, the plan boomeranged, as the pastor, instead of resurrecting as he planned, the men dug up the grave again to find him dead.
The state witness, Father Zvidzai, told the High Court that Kanyama helped to dig his own grave before praying and jumping inside, adding that after Kanyama laid face down in the grave, he ordered his followers to cover him with soil.
“He secured a grave-shaped pit in front of my hut and asked for help to dig the pit. The deceased requested to be buried alive so that he would gain power to drive away the evil forces after resurrecting”, Zvidzai said.
One Joseph Taderera told court that as the men were in the process of filling the grave, he asked them to stop what they were doing as he was scared for the life of the prophet but they snubbed him when the prophet insisted they continued the process of burying him that he would rise from the grave unharmed.
“I warned the men about the danger of their actions, still they disregarded me because the deceased kept telling me that I am disturbing his angels, and urged them to continue filling the grave, saying that he would later come out alive”, Taderera said.
