40 'possessed students' withdrawn after Shiri visit

40 'possessed students' withdrawn after Shiri visit

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By Lebo Nkatazo

A ZIMBABWEAN school has ordered parents to withdraw nearly forty students after they went into what was described by one parent as a "trance" starting on Sunday.

The dramatic events at Kwenda Mission in Hwedza came a day after Air Force of Zimbabwe commander Perence Shiri officiated at a prize giving ceremony.

Shiri is a former student at the school.

Shiri, a fearsome soldier who led a government operation in Matabeleland and Midlands provinces in the early 1980's is blamed for the deaths of more than 20 000 civilians.

The operation, commonly known as Gukurahundi, was carried out by a specially assembled unit called the 5 Brigade which was deployed in south-western parts of the country, ostensibly on a mission to contain a rebellion by dissidents opposed to President Robert Mugabe's rule.

A parent who has a child enrolled at the Methodist Church-run school in the Chikomba constituency said he was called Monday afternoon to collect his child after the school claimed he was possessed by "spirits" and had been screaming uncontrollably.

The parent told New Zimbabwe.com: “There are about 36 students who have been affected. The school authorities are being rough to us. They are saying torai vana venyu nekuti ndezvekumusha kwenyu (Take your kids. Their condition emanates from your homes) but we know that there is something at the school. How could different people from different homes all scream uncontrollably?"

The headmaster of Kwenda mission, who insisted on being identified only as Mr Munyoro, confirmed that several students had been sent home.

Munyoro said: “I am on leave at the moment but there was nothing the school could do as the concerned students needed treatment which could not be offered by the school."

Kwenda Mission acting headmaster, identified only as Mr Mushangwe, was unwilling to discuss the developments.

The incident comes days after a 15-year-old boy in Shamva went into a trance last Friday and chewed part of a dead woman's body.

A spokesman for the dead woman's family told the state-run Herald newspaper that the boy “went straight to the corpse, hugged it and with surprising strength lifted its face to his mouth and chewed part of its nose.”

The paper identified the dead woman as Tambudzai Mwale.

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