The ManicaPost
CONTROVERSIAL war veteran Solomon Noah Shambira aka Tenzi Nehoreka, who was facing charges of unauthorised borrowing, was acquitted last Friday.
This arose from an incident that happened on December 1, 2013, when he allegedly stripped Chief Tandi (William Chiyangwa Samhungu) of his chieftainship badge arguing that he was an impostor.
He also faced an alternative charge of interfering with the duties of a chief.
The charges were quashed on a technicality leading to his acquittal.
Rusape magistrate Ms Patience Ururu-Madondo’s verdict was greeted with a deafening applause from legions of Tenzi Nehoreka’s disciples.
Hundreds of Tenzi Nehoreka’s cultic followers braved the chilly weather in solidarity with the controversial spirit medium whose radical ideas, traditional and cultural beliefs they are rooted in.
Ms Madondo said for something to be stolen, it must be movable and with monetary value attached to it. The badge in question had no known monetary value, but rather a sentimental one.
“One can steal something that has monetary value attached to it. The chieftainship badge in question has only sentimental value not a monetary one and cannot be stolen,” said Ms Madondo.
Ms Madondo added that the alternative charge of interfering with the operations of a properly installed chief could not be sustained because the Traditional Leaders’ Act does not give clear guidelines to define interference.
She observed, too, that Nehoreka, after taking the badge, “never uttered words” instructing Chief Tandi to stop performing his duties.
She said Nehoreka went away with the badge without ordering Chief Tandi to cease executing his mandate as a traditional leader.
The legion of his supporters, who kept composed and filled both ends of the court corridors to the brim, exploded into joy after an emissary emerged from Court A to brief them of the acquittal.
They – men and women – all clad in black trousers, skirts and white shirts and blouses, among them traditional leaders, war veterans and spirit mediums, ruptured into song and dance.
They shouted and bragged that Nehoreka was a “legendary spirit medium” on a mission to restore sanity in the traditional leaders’ fraternity.
“Do not play nemudzimu wenyika. This country has its owners, the ancestors who are not happy about how you are harassing him. Stop persecuting him. Leave him alone. You shall bear the consequences of you actions. You can’t mount a roadblock to arrest and humiliate our Tenzi.
He is a legendary spirit medium and has been vindicated. What are they going to say next?” asked one of his female followers from a joyous crowd outside the court yard.
Tenzi Nehoreka was all smiles after the acquittal.
Clad in a his fashionable black gown, with an overflowing green collar with yellow laces on the front and white ones on the hands and seam, Tenzi Nehoreka waved his right fist in the air, in a show of victory, to his supporters.
He had his usual trademark black doek on and interestingly he spotted another one this time around – holding a snuffbox (nhekwe) firmly in his left hand.
He grinned as he walked towards his chauffeured white Toyota Gaia vehicle after their ritual of greetings.
Female followers bowed their heads down and ululated before him. Male disciples exuded their respect for their “legend” by saluting.
