Some villagers in Chimanimani District believe Cyclone Idai was not merely a natural phenomenon but supernatural forces could have been involved.
A villager around the Skyline area, Phebion Mukamba, who spoke to Newsday had this to say:
What has happened here is mysterious and there is more than just a cyclone. It was raining on the night and very windy. I looked outside and saw something like a colourful ball in the atmosphere.
Then, there was lightning and a loud bang was heard after that. It was not thunder. The mountains burst, and there was a disaster.
Some homes were swept by mudslides, while mountains were oozing water that destroyed roads. It was scary.
Another villager, Moses Mhlanga believes that something happened underground. He said:
As you can see, every mountain is burst. Is it that Chimanimani is sitting on top of rivers or the sea? Most of the water was oozing from the mountains, and what led to such bursts? I think something happened underground. Everyone heard the bang, it was loud and what followed was a disaster.
Cyclone Idai swooped across the Eastern Highlands over two weeks ago, bringing torrential rains and gale-force winds which triggered flash floods and massive mudslides.
Hundreds of people particularly in Chimanimani and Chipinge were killed.
Related:
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St Lwanga Students ‘Forced’ Soldiers To Ferry Them From Skyline To Chipinge
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Cyclone Idai: Whole Growth Point Washed Away, Woman Loses 2 Children, Mother & Niece
The people quoted in this article could do with a bit of education in the sciences. STEM is very important. It is not good to have the highest literacy rate in Africa whilst displaying such low understanding of science.
CHIBUWE HIGH SCHOOL UPDATE
We are now coming to the end of the first school term but issues of the disputed AGM remain unresolved . This has resulted in a number of glaring administrative challenges which impact negatively on both the learning environment and welfare of pupils.
Members of the ancillary staff have gone for two months without their salaries and allowances while creditors are considering cutting off lines of credit to the school. Overdrafts are now an of the day . The school has unilaterally suspended night studies to cut on electricity costs while diet for pupils has been down graded to below standard meals . It is common that most riots in boarding schools are caused by cutting down of normal meals to students.
The school garden which used to supply vegetables and meat to the school has since been abandoned after the teacher responsible stepped down from the project citing unnecessary interference by the powers that be.
Most teachers at the school are now concentrating on private lessons where they charge approximately $30 per pupil per month. Normal school lessons have now been relegated to ” attend as you feel” system .
Mr Chitombo the deputy is now the pseudo headmaster and has since assumed a fulltime role of a substantive headmaster . The school has now h been forced to recruit a local teacher to take up lessons for the non teaching Deputy Headmaster.
Parents and stakeholders are also worried about lack of financial discipline at the school. Pig projects that cost over $50 000 are being carried without going to tender . The Headmaster and Deputy Head systematically split the discription of one big project to avoid going to tender. This has been witnessed in the procurement of school furniture and tiling of dining halls.
The local Councillor Mr Charles Mugidho who stand accused of masterminding the rigging of the SDC elections is now a fulltime member of the school procument committee where is alleged to be engineering the fraudulent procument of beans and other goods from local producers .