Pastor instructing members to bury him alive in Zimbabwe

Pastor, Shamiso Kanyama, died after he was allegedly buried alive on his instructions.

According to reports, Kanyama had asked his followers, five members of the same family, to bury him alive so that he could summon more cleansing powers to help cleanse their house of evil spirits.

As the story goes, the members of the family, charged with the murder of the prophet, invited the pastor to their home in the village of Mazonde to help cleanse their home, believed to be plagued by mysterious deaths.

The accused family members, identified as Leanmore Mutero, Tonderai Muswere, Michael Muchengeti, Manasa Mutero and Nicholas Mutero, according to Zed 24 News, the country’s local newspaper, were charged before the High Court in Harare for murder.
Owen Tagu, the High Court Justice, told Zed 24 News that he heard how on that day, their priest, Zvidzai Muchengeti had invited the late pastor to attend the home in the Muzarabani district, which is situated along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border.

The five men had requested the pastor to help them cleanse their home of evil spirits, because it was causing mysterious deaths in their family and the cleansing ceremony had to be performed on that day because a memorial service for a departed family member had been slated to hold the following day.

Pastor Kanyama had reportedly asked his followers to bury him alive so that he could summon more cleansing powers to heal the family that had been plagued by mysterious deaths.

“In response to our request to perform a healing ceremony, Kanyama ordered us to dig a grave and bury him alive because that was the way he summoned more healing powers to ward off evil spirits,” they explained.

However, the plan boomeranged, as the pastor, instead of resurrecting as he planned, the men dug up the grave again to find him dead.

The state witness, Father Zvidzai, told the High Court that Kanyama helped to dig his own grave before praying and jumping inside, adding that after Kanyama laid face down in the grave, he ordered his followers to cover him with soil.

Zvidzai: “He secured a grave-shaped pit in front of my hut and asked for help to dig the pit. The deceased requested to be buried alive so that he would gain power to drive away the evil forces after resurrecting.”

One Joseph Taderera told court that as the men were in the process of filling the grave, he asked them to stop what they were doing as he was scared for the life of the prophet; though, they snubbed him when the prophet insisted they continued the process of burying him alive, stating that he would rise from the grave unharmed.

Taderera said: “I warned the men about the danger of their actions, still they disregarded me because the deceased kept telling me that I am disturbing his angels, and urged them to continue filling the grave, saying that he would later come out alive.”