FOR three weeks now, the disappearance of their dearly departed from their lonely graves at Munkozhi Cemetery has thrown the people of Kalumbila District into question as to what exactly was happening.
Many schools of thought have provided various explanations for this strange happening which has had mothers hiding their children inside their homes by 1600 hours for fear they might meet their late uncles who have abandoned their graves.
For a local Pentecostal prayer warrior Emmanuel Ndumba, the dead of Munkozhi Graveyard have ruptured in a glorious call by their maker. Ndumba said that at night, he sometimes hears them sing sweet hymns as they drink milk and honey in the everlasting streams above the clouds.
However, Kenneth Chipawa, a local Makishi coordinator dismissed Ndumba’s explanation saying North-Western Province was Zambia’s major honey producer and as such, there was no need for the dead to fly miles upon miles for mere honey which they could lick from their neighbors hive and milk they could freely get from their Tonga traditional cousins.
Chipawa, with a permanent toothpick on the left side of his mouth piercing through his extended moustache calmly said that the disappearing dead will return as had just gone for Makishi dance practice in readiness for the next Likumbi Lya Mize. He warned curious cats daily inquiring on the graves of curse as the graveyard was a sacred Makishi performance arena.
However, for the police whose eyes can’t see anything in the supernatural, the empty graves are nothing but a crime scene.
Joel Njase, North Western Province Commissioner in confirming the mystery of Solwezi said that police are preparing their short batons, handcuffs and cells to Carter for the persons robbing the graves of skeletons and other valuables.
Njase has disclosed that a preliminary investigation has revealed that five bodies have so far vanished.
Singing praises, dancing Makishi or stolen; the question remains, where are our dead?
©Kalemba March 25, 2021
