Spirit medium demands $45 billion from game farmer

Spirit medium demands $45 billion from game farmer

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By Partson Matsikidze

SPIRIT medium Sekuru Mushore wants a staggering $44,6 billion in compensation from the owners of Lion and Cheetah Park for alleged desecration of Bvopfo Hills and the removal of human remains and artefacts from there.

In what is easily the biggest lawsuit in the history of Zimbabwe, Sekuru Mushore and Esdo Chidziva - who said his ancestors once lived in the hills - have also listed scores of items they want returned by the Bristow family and their company, Le Rhone Game Farm (Pvt) Limited.

Lion and Cheetah Park is a game sanctuary about 30 km from Harare on the Bulawayo Road. It is situated in the Bvopfo Hills, which the spirit medium says are sacred.

Graeme Bristow and his family have been running the park for the past 32 years.

“Graeme J. Bristow, being the custodian of the Lion and Cheetah Park (Bvopfo Hills) wrongfully removed and destroyed 58 knobkerries, 31 axes (makano), 105 clay pots, many beads, 17 granaries, six smelters, and 40 plus corpses of chiefs, headmen, warriors of the Zuruvi clan,” Sekuru Mushore and Chidziva declared.

The case, whose number is HC 12297/04, is before Justice Ben Hlatswayo.
“For the past 32 years, the defendants have been profiteering from our forefathers’ remains, and the contents of the Bvopfo Hills stated above, which the defendants have been advertising to tourists.

“As a result, the Zuruvi clan has been prejudiced in the sum of $44, 6 billion. The clan has also lost the sacred contents of the Bvopfo Hills stated above,” the plaintiffs declared.

The park has been the centre of a long-standing ownership wrangle between the Bristows on the one hand and Sekuru Mushore and the Ziruvi (Nyamweda) clan on the other. The Nyamweda clan says its ancestors once resided and are buried there.

The list of missing artefacts that Sekuru Mushore and Chidziva want returned or compensated for include 58 knobkerries, 31 axes (makano), 105 clay pots (hari), many beads (chuma), 17 granaries, six smelters (mvuto) and over 40 remains of chiefs, headmen and warriors of the Zuruvi clan.

Bristow has entered an appearance to defend the matter. The matter will, however, be heard in the new year since the High Court has gone into recess.
Daily Mirror
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