By Admore Mbonda | Kariba
KARIBA -For one night this month, Lake Kariba will go dark and silent.
No boats. No lights. No engines.
Chief Mola, Mr Champion Rare, says that is the only way to heal the lake that claimed 97 lives on 11 August.
Preparations for the traditional cleansing ceremony are at an advanced stage, with traditional beer already brewing in homesteads around Kariba.
“We have been given the go-ahead by government leadership to conduct the rites,” Chief Mola said.
The ceremony is for the Mbuya Nehanda victims – 97 people, including 18 children, who died when the RIDA ferry overloaded with about 180 people capsized near Long Island. President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared it a State of Disaster, but for the Tonga and Korekore elders, a government inquest is not enough. The spirits are angry.
“The lake must be cleansed and the spirits appeased following the loss of life,” Chief Mola said.
The disaster cut Kariba in half. Fishing camps at Chalala and villages that depended on the ferry for mealie-meal, fuel and transport to Kariba town and Harare are now stranded. Traders who moved dried kapenta and goods across the lake have lost their market. Boat operators lost income during the month-long search.
Chief Mola said he has written to the District Development Coordinator to order a total curfew on the water on cleansing day.
“The traditional beer for the ceremony is being brewed. We are engaging the DDC’s office to ensure that on that day there will be no boats on the lake so that the process can be conducted peacefully and without lights on the lake,” he said.
The ritual will not start in Kariba town, but at the source of the pain.
It will start at Chalala, at Siamavu – the sacred rock shrine overlooking the spot where the ferry went down. From there, the chiefs will cross to Kariba for an all-night ceremony until sunrise.
“I will lead the cleansing together with Chief Nebiri, my nephew, assisted by other Kariba chiefs,” Chief Mola said.
About Author
