The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
THE identification, through DNA profiling, of victims of Cyclone Idai who were killed when torrential rains and mudslides hit parts of Manicaland in March has been stalled awaiting for bodies to decompose and skeletise.
In March, the Government engaged the services of the National University of Science and Technology (Nust) Applied Genetic Testing Centre (AGTC) to help identify people who died during Cyclone Idai.
However, it has emerged that the identification process is still far from over as the institution, at the directive from the Government, could not complete the process pending decomposition of those buried. In an interview, Nust AGTC director Mr Zephania Dlamini said no tests had been concluded as the institution was waiting for a directive from the Government.
“We took samples from relatives, but those people (those who died) had just been buried and we didn’t want to exhume them and start working on decomposed bodies. We were meant to start the exhumation process in July but we were told to wait, advice coming from the Government. We are waiting to be told when to start. We are doing these tests on behalf of the Government and we are waiting for the green light to start the tests,” said Mr Dlamini.
He said waiting for the bodies to decompose was also a way of making the process easier.
“Another thing is that we deliberately wanted to let the bodies decompose and skeletise. It is easier to work with skeletal remains than decomposing flesh,” he said.
The revelation comes at a time when the Government has indicated that, at law, all those missing cannot be declared dead until after five years. This means that relatives of those missing cannot access or do anything to the missing’s properties.
In an interview, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Cde July Moyo said at law, Government can only declare those missing after a period of five years has lapsed. He, however, said the period maybe waived depending on the situation. Cde Moyo said the Government was seized to see how best it can handle the Cyclone Idai victims case to ensure quick closure is found.
“We had to go back to Chimanimani to meet all the councillors and all the six chiefs and put that question to them (of missing bodies). We know in law we are supposed to take five years before we declare somebody dead if they are missing. Also at law, in the Civil Protection Act, we are allowed to vary and shorten the length of time we can declare somebody who is missing as dead,” he said.
Cde Moyo said between those two pieces of legislation, the Government wanted to shorten the period that they could declare those missing dead to ensure closure to the affected families.
“We wanted to understand from the communities led by their chiefs what they desired. They then requested us to say they wanted to do some rituals, consulting families in each of the chieftainship area. We expect that given what they will have done, we can now put closure using the Civil Protection Act to shorten if they recommend that we do so because there are a number of families who need this closure in order to access resources, be it in monies that are in banks or other resources once the closure is done. So, we are following that meticulously to make sure that we carry the traditional leadership, the civic leadership through to councillors and all those who are concerned including the families so that we put this to closure,” he said.
In terms of research and recovery, the Government has put measures and mechanisms in place to identify the 147 bodies buried in Susunhenga in Mozambique.
“There were 148 and one has already been retrieved by the family and correctly identified. To date, DNA samples have been collected from relatives of the missing persons waiting to be linked with the deceased,” said Cde Moyo.
However, traditionalist Mr Pathisa Nyathi said traditionally a person can be declared dead even if no body has been found.
“In the past we did not have to always see a corpse, izolo besiwatshaya amathambo, besivumisa knowing that our own has died. Looking at Idai, chances of finding one alive now are slim, where can they be after such a long time? It is safer to say they are dead. Sekumele badlelwe inkubalo, meaning death rites now have to be performed,” he said.
“With Cyclone Idai there is no need to go on and seek other spiritual methods of identification, it is safe to presume they are departed, if one survived they would have resurfaced by now. What is hard now is to identify the exact place where the remains are buried but other rites can be performed safely. It may take years. Looking at the Shona culture when someone died in such a painful manner, their spirit can then speak through another family member who becomes a medium and say where their remains are found. The family can then go and perform final rites at the said physical location, although finding bones and other remains will be a difficult task,” he said.
