SOUTH African police arrested a man on Monday after he claimed to be a popular musician who died in 2009, sparking a frenzy among the singer's fans.
Claiming that he is the late Zulu traditional music singer Khulekani Khumalo, also known as "Mgqumeni," the man arrived at the musician's home last week at Nqutu village in east South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province.
News that the musician had returned spread like wildfire, prompting fans to descend on his home.
The man claimed that he had fallen victim to witchcraft but that he was rescued by ancestors. He did not die, he added, but was kept with zombies in a place he could not recall.
"The man is currently in custody pending a criminal investigation. Detectives have been questioning the man this morning and are conducting further investigation," said police spokesman Jay Naicker.
"The arrest follows developments yesterday when the man made his first public appearance at Nqutu," he added.
Khumalo died in December 2009 after drinking something he got from a traditional healer. He was buried by his family in the KwaGxobanyawo cemetery in early 2010.
The man claiming to be the resurrected artist, said on Sunday: "I have been suffering a lot at the place where I was kept with zombies. It was hell there and I am so grateful that I was able to free myself and return to my family and you, my supporters."
Using a loudspeaker, he told fans that he was not dead - but had disappeared after he became a victim of witchcraft.
He says he was kept in a cave by zombies for two years, forced to sing and had to eat mud to stay alive.
"I have always been alive," he said. "I have lost a lot of weight but it is me," he said.
The man, not sporting Khumalo's trademark dreadlocks, ignored fans' requests to sing but instead recited his clan names.
To add to the mystery, two of his common-law wives and his maternal grandmother told reporters they believed the man was indeed the "dead" musician.
Nomkhosi Mbatha and Thembi Ntombela said that after seeing their "husband" and spending some time with him, they needed no further convincing that it was him.
Khumalo's daughter, Amanda, said her "father" had been the first to recognise her, calling her by name.
Khumalo’s maternal grandmother Zintombi Mseleku said she knew the moment she set her eyes on her "grandson" that it was him.
“There is no way I can get confused over Kwakhe, it really is him. He is looking a little worn, and his cheeks are less chubby, but it’s him,” she said, her eyes welling with tears of joy.
“I went in and looked at him. I called him and asked him if he knew who I was, and he said, ‘You’re my grandmother, MaSibiya. I looked at his feet and hands and I was satisfied that it is him.”
The man will appear at the Nquthu Magistrate's Court on Tuesday charged with fraud.