HARARE – Police are investigating after at least 100 graves were desecrated at Warren Hills Cemetery in Harare.
Chief Parks and Cemeteries Officer Godfrey Batsirai Munetsi told ZimLive on Thursday that unknown people have been entering the cemetery at night since Tuesday this week and damaging tombstones. They are yet to establish the motive.
“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,” Munetsi said.
“It could be about rituals as evidenced with 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.”
The number of damaged graves would suggest it is the work of more than one person, Munetsi said.
Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) president George Kandiero explained that witchcraft cannot be ruled out.
“A lot of things happen especially nowadays where people are in a rush for money and power,” Kandiero said.
“They can be ordered by sorceresses to destroy graves in order to accumulate power and wealth.”
Theresa Nyoni said she installed a tombstone for her late father in December last year and she was distraught to find it damaged.
“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 Zimbabwe, violating graves or corpses is criminalised under sections 110 and 111 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act [Chapter 9:23].
In April 2022, thieves stole thousands of memorial plaques from Warren Hills Cemetery in two months and officials of the Harare City Council overseeing the cemetery said they suspected that the thieves were selling the expensive brass plaques to scrap metal dealers who, in turn, use the brass to make various jewelry items such as rings and bracelets.
Some residents speculated that local tombstone sculptors could be behind the desecrations in order to push more clients to their workshops.
