Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Obert Chifamba
14 November 2009
Harare — HAS Sekuru Mushore "Chamatehwe" become the embodiment of the proverbial cat with nine lives "dying" and "resurrecting" at will?
Close relatives and those close to the 79-year-old spirit medium, from whose shrine the popular mbira group Mbira dzeNharira derives its name will give you a flat "no" for an answer.
Stories of Sekuru Mushore's multiple deaths only surface when he does his traditional disappearing and re-appearing acts, which they dismiss for casual visits but to destinations that are never revealed to anyone.
Just recently, rumours were doing the rounds that the spirit medium had passed away prompting this reporter to pay a visit to his Nharira Hills base.
And the story of the man, as told by his daughter Shayamuridzi and his elder sister Barbara Kawanzaruwa, can easily pass for a stranger than fiction tale or excerpt from a gothic novel.
"Sekuru Mushore is not dead but visiting. We do not know exactly where he is because he does not tell anyone when the spirits order him to take his mysterious voyages.
"This is not the first time he has been presumed or rumoured dead. I have in fact lost count of the times people came here to extend their condolences for a person who is alive but on a tour of duty," said the 80-year-old Barbara.
A niece to Sekuru Mushore, Gertrude Mushawatu said her uncle's flirtation with the spirits started when he was a boy growing up in Mhondoro communal lands.
He is said to have done a lot of strange things that boys of his age would not do.
At one point Sekuru Mushore disappeared and was presumed dead for three years.
Gertrude vividly remembers the rude shock that greeted her one afternoon when she had left their kitchen in Chitomborwizi to dispose of some ashes, only to see the long-lost uncle sitting in the tall grass that skirted the homestead clad in animal skins.
"When he went away, he had a cloth wrapped around his body, and there he was with new regalia that immediately added more awe to his mysterious disappearance," she said.
No amount of interrogation by the family could force him to reveal where exactly he had been staying save for the only confession that he had been on a long spiritual journey.
Sekuru Mushore's great trek had taken him to the Nharira Hills, he had confessed, adding that they needed not worry about him anymore as he was protected by the spirits of their forebears.
In 1963 he was arrested by the colonial regime for his trips around the country after which he said he was coming from Ruhwa's waters, which the rest of the clan call the biblical 'Noah's water' in their traditional beliefs.
Maybe this is the water that nourished him when he is alleged to have gone for years surviving on water alone, a period during which he would allegedly guzzle more than five buckets a day.
"Other spirit mediums call him 'king' and attribute the rains that fall every summer to his powers. He is a rainmaker," added Gertrude.
She said his calling came one day when he was on his way to Chitomborwizi and the bus developed a fault that proved difficult to fix in his presence, he is alleged to have said later.
Sekuru Mushore is said to have disembarked and walked from Selous to Chitomborwizi, a very long distance by any standards to be travelled on foot.
"It was at this point that Sekuru Mushore left his job as a teacher to pursue the mission assigned to him by our ancestors," his sister chipped in.
Gogo Barbara said the disappearances became frequent and each time he disappeared they would brew some traditional beer with rapoko that is not soaked in ordinary water.
"We take the rapoko to the top of the hills where there is a basin of some kind and leave it there.
"Rain clouds always gather even during the dry season and the rains that fall thereafter will cause the sprouting needed for readying the rapoko for the brewing.
"At the moment, we have already done the ritual but we cannot proceed with it since we are already in November, the month in which no rituals, even weddings or marriages, are allowed to take place," Gogo Barbara explained.
Sekuru Mushore has a history of disappearing during which he is presumed dead. The family used to worry a lot over the acts but got used to it with time.
"Each time he disappears there are rumours of his death and we have gotten used to entertaining guests coming for his 'funeral', and this is one such incident.
"You are here because you heard rumours of Sekuru Mushore's death and I bet, you will be coming here again to pay condolences after another disappearing act," Gertrude said.
This time, the ritual that is supposed to bring him home will be held just after November and Sekuru is expected to return thereafter.
A sheep and cow will be slaughtered for the occasion.
Whether this is his Sekuru Mushore's final curtain call, or whether there will be another act, only time will tell.
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