THE drowning of two women who were performing “manjuzu” rituals at Nyaure river in Bindura on Monday has shocked the community and invoked the anger of traditional leaders.
The sad incident orchestrated by a self-styled prophet has also ignited debate about the existence of mermaid spirits, popularly referred to as manjuzu.
A sojourn by five young women into the wilderness of Bindura in the Chief Masembura area ended in tragedy.
The self-styled prophet who was leading them explains what happened.
“I went with some women to pray and I wanted to invoke the mermaid spirits. These people had their own issues and during this process one of us was taken by the spirits. We then went into the water to try and rescue her and one of them died, in the process, my wife also died during the rescue,” he said.
Headman Masembura warned people not to play with sacred water bodies.
“These are sacred waters, and there are underground spiritual creatures there. So, every time you go there you must follow proper rituals and you must ask the leaders of this place. We asked these people what exactly they were doing and this self-styled prophet said he brought rice, sweets and biscuits and wine to appease the mermaid spirits of their deceased colleague. In this river, we have never heard of mermaids but spiritual things are hard to understand because there are spiritual beings under water so it could be like that,” said the Chief.
Manjuzu or mermaid spirits have become a hit among young women who believe that if you are born with this spirit or nurture such spirits you can become rich or famous.
But do manjuzu really exist?
“The thing that has happened here is shocking, some people are just saying we are mermaids but there are procedures to be done and people who go down with people to rivers should have spiritual eyesight,” said Sekuru Nzou, a traditional healer.
“What I know regards manjzuu is that there are real manjuzu and those which are fake, those who buy fake mermaid spirits use magic and they can end up in Satanism, there are three types of mermaid spirits, they are manjuzu enhope, they dream of spirits and fetch medicine in rivers, then there are some spirits who make people rich.
“Manjuzu are there but many people especially us young women, are abusing them and being conned by fake prophets all in the name of getting rich quickly. So, if you go to rivers with a hidden agenda you can end up drowning because you won’t get along with the mermaid spirits,” explained an expert on the matter, Nyasha Simon.
What is evident is that manjuzu do exist but like any religion or spiritual field the world of marine spirits is difficult to understand.
As with Christianity, the proliferation of fake prophets exists in African traditional religion, thus calling on traditionalists to be vigilant in safeguarding their culture.
