I HAVE BEEN SILENT FOR SOME TIME DUE TO MY GOING BLIND.  I CAN NOW SEE AGAIN AND WILL BE ACTIVE ON THIS BLOG.
Odette

Mysterious stones rain on family in Chinhoyi

http://www.herald.co.zw/mysterious-stones-rain-on-chinhoyi-family/
Read about this strange occurance

Strange happening

Strange And Bizarre… Woman Raped By A Ghost

A Bulawayo woman has died of excessive bleeding after she allegedly had sex with a ghost she reportedly met at a city nightspot.
The woman, Sithandazile Mpofu from Pumula East, died on Monday last week. Before she met her death, she told her sister that she found herself stark naked on top of a grave at Luveve Cemetery.

While narrating her ghostly experience, she started frothing on her mouth and bleeding from her privates.
A close relative confirmed the incident saying Sithandazile died after she complained of having slept with a “man” who she suspected was a ghost.
The relative who refused to be named said following Sithandazile’s mysterious death the family was planning to hire an n’anga to perform some rituals on her grave so that she would not be turned into a “zombie”.
“The way Sithandazile died puzzled everyone. Before she died she claimed that she met a certain man at a city night club which she later suspected was a ghost before he asked her to go to his home for an all night sexual encounter. She agreed but was surprised to find herself stark-naked at Luveve Cemetery while on top of a grave.
“She said while on top of the grave, she was feeling that someone was touching her and his hands were pushing her against her will. She said she was feeling the weight of a man on top of her but she couldn’t see anybody. While narrating her ordeal she started frothing and bleeding from her privates and that is when her sister discovered that something mysterious had happened to her.
“She was taken to Esiphezini where her health deteriorated before she was taken to United Bulawayo Hospitals. She however, died two days later. We later thought that she was supposed to be taken to a prophet or inyanga since the problem looked supernatural,” said Sithandazile’s distraught relative

Herbal vendors a danger to society

Herbal vendors a danger to society: Zinatha

03/01/2015 00:00:00 by Staff Reporter

Weed them out ... Sekuru Peter Shumba Sibanda   RELATED STORIES THE Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (Zinatha) says vendors who have flooded the streets selling the so called herbs for curing various ailments are a danger to public health as they are neither traditional healers nor herbalists. Members of the association appealed to relevant authorities to flush out opportunistic vendors who are duping desperate Zimbabweans who can’t afford proper healthcare. Newzimbabwe.com spoke to traditional healers Ambuya Constance Chikomo of Budiriro 5 and Sekuru Peter Shumba Sibanda in Mufakose, both of whom expressed their concerns about the influx of what they said were conmen and women. Ambuya Chikomo who has over 30 years of experience said vendors selling the so called “traditional herbs or medicines” along the streets in central Harare are taking advantage of public desperation caused by economic hardships. “This is very risky to people’s lives because the said herbs are just tree barks which are being grinded to appear as if they are helpful and genuine yet they are harmful and poisonous,” said Ambuya Chikomo. She added: “Most of the people who take these concoctions end up coming here to seek assistance after complications because when they go back to the vendors they normally find the vendors having relocated to another street.” Ambuya Chikomo’s worries are shared by Sibanda who is also the Zinatha secretary for education. Sibanda said some people have even gone blind after taking what is called “eye concoction.” He said very soon Zinatha would together with the police invade the streets to “weed out these vendors who are not our members and are of no fixed aboard in case some people develop complications from their concoctions.” He added: “These people are taking advantage of loopholes in the law governing the operations of traditional healers. In conventional medicine one needs approval from the Medicine Control Authority of Zimbabwe.” Some vendors have even become more innovative as they frequent popular meeting places such as halls and stadiums to trade their “herbs”.   Zinatha claims to have more than 45 000 registered members country wide including pastors and apostolic prophets. Herbalists as well as those who sell traditional medicines and faith healers are supposed to be registered in terms of Traditional Medicines Practitioners Act which was established in 1981 and amended in 2000.

Malawi phophet

CONTROVERSIAL but widely popular Malawian prophet, Austin Liabunya, has said President Robert Mugabe will die in 2015, an online newspaper has claimed.

The Maravi Post said Liabunya said this during the night of cross over service conducted in Area 23 at Music Cross Road tent in Malawi’s administrative capital Lilongwe in the wee hours of January 1.
During the same service Liabunya told his followers that Hakainde Hichilema will emerge as the new President of Zambia when the country goes to election on January 20. The United Party for Development leader will face Patriotic Front leader Edgar Lungu who recently flew to Zimbabwe to consult with President Mugabe.
According to the report, Liabunya said “Mugabe’s biological clock will not tick beyond this year ” after which Zimbabwe will be “restored” to the be in the top five of the richest countries in Africa.
The prophet said First Lady Grace Mugabe “will never win in Zimbabwean politics” and had simply joined politics to “protect her ill-gotten wealth.”
Liabunya however claimed that it would be good for her to contest as she would give back wealth to the Zimbabweans during the campaign period.
Liabunya is a controversial figure who has won himself a following over the last few years predicting political events in Malawi. His followers claim that he prophesied former Malawian President Joyce Banda’s defeat in 2014.
President Mugabe, who is currently on his annual leave, has previously joked about people who have predicted his death saying in their dreams he had died “more times than Jesus.”
The 90 year old leader has shown no signs yet of wanting to step down soon with his party endorsing him as their preferred leader during the December congress.

Of angry spirits and diamond mining

Of angry spirits and diamond mining

06/07/2014 00:00:00 by Mathew Nyaungwa

Claims by traditional leaders self-serving ... Mathew Nyaungwa   RELATED STORIES Who does Tsvangirai think he’s fooling? Moyo, Chombo and dealing with graft Marange alluvials: Are they selling us a dummy? A SIZEABLE number of the black indigenous people in Zimbabwe have firm beliefs in ancestral spirits. They believe that when a person dies, their spirit continues and can have influence on events in their families and the community. The black indigenous also believe that if one tries to treat the ancestors with derision, bad luck can befall that person like a tsunami. Sickness, failure to secure employment despite good grades, sterility and constant involvement in road accidents, among other adversities, are said to be indications that ancestral spirits are in pursuit of one’s life. However, honouring the ancestral spirits was said to be an antidote to these misfortunes. Christians on the other hand view ancestral spirits as nothing but evil spirits that should be cast out in the name of Jesus Christ. The above narrative tells of the spiritual standpoint that traditional leaders in Zimbabwe recently based their opinions regarding diamond mining in Marange. They are of the opinion that diamond mining operations in Marange are facing various problems because the spirits were ‘angry’ at government and mining companies for snubbing them and local cultures. “You know, some of these things are spiritual. It is unfortunate that the government did not consult traditional leaders on how to extract the diamonds. The diamonds are on our traditional land. There are supposed to be rituals done first in order to appease the spirits,” the president of the Chiefs’ Council, Chief Fortune Charumbira was quoted as saying by The Standard newspaper. “The land belongs to us and the diamonds are ours. We are the ancestors of this land where diamonds lie on, but, the government decided to go it alone. Look now there are so many problems in Chiadzwa [Marange]. “There are violations of cultural rites. Our ancestors are not happy because of the disrespect of their rights since they stay in a rich land, but are not benefitting from their ancestral land resources.” Self-serving threats? Another traditional leader, Chief Gilbert Marange said locals remained poor despite the discovery of the diamonds in their village. “We demand that chiefs sit on the boards of mining firms in areas under their jurisdiction to ensure they bring development to their communities,” he said. Advertisement These revelations are interesting especially when one considers that the chiefs, instead of sticking to their demands of conducting the ‘rituals’ to ‘appease the spirits’, were also demanding to sit on boards of the diamond companies. Diamond mining in Marange has proved lucrative for individuals, although the nation at large has not benefitted much from the gems. Marange fields span 85,000 hectares and contain large deposits of alluvial and conglomerate diamonds. Former mines minister Obert Mpofu once said that the gems would likely inject $2 billion into the economy annually. “We are going to unleash our worthiness to the world. Zimbabwe won’t be begging to anyone,” he said in November 2011. "Our current diamond production is estimated by volume, to be in excess of 25 percent of the world production, and going by the values realised to date per carat, Zimbabwe is set to earn in excess of $2 billion annually in gross revenues." But the reality percolated through as most people realised that the loud pronouncement had only massaged their hopes. Just recently, mines minister Walter Chidhakwa who replaced Mpofu last September, said the government would rather stop all diamond mining in Marange than let miners continue fleecing the country of millions of dollars through understating the real value of the stones they extract. He said the government would not extend the tenure of the firms in Marange, some of whom were reluctant to go into underground mining preferring to concentrate on cheaper surface operations. Harare is not ‘happy’ that the diamond miners are saying the quality of stones they are mining continues to go down and now want new concessions. President Robert Mugabe said that he would want to see one or two companies mining diamonds in Marange from the current five. It is such challenges of deteriorating alluvial diamonds on claims granted to the miners and truncated revenue, blamed on corruption and shadowy operations, that the traditional leaders are basing their argument of ancestral retribution. However, it’s quite avowed that the government and the traditional leaders have different solutions to the problems bedeviling Marange. Harare is saying let us streamline operations to improve transparency, while the chiefs are saying ‘appease’ the ancestors and your problems will go. But wait a minute; they also want to sit on the company boards. Even those that believe in ancestral spirits had bought the chiefs’ arguments, there is no doubt that they discredited themselves the moment they asked to sit on the boards, as this gives a picture of people who are interested in lining their pockets while masquerading as vanguards of traditionalism. About the author: Mathew Nyaungwa is currently reading for his M.A in Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, in South Africa.

Leonard returns

It has happened again!  My father has returned.
We have been missing several items recently and I have found the scent of tobacco when I open up the drawing room every morning.  No one smokes in the family and our friends don't either!

I was out at a meeting and my husband was moving a speaker in the drawing room. He found a picture behind it of my grandparents.  The picture I had in the study ready to scan and put on my web page.
Interesting?