A FAMILY in Solwezi has shocked the community and law enforcement by keeping a corpse for four days in the hope that it will breathe its lungs full again.
People close to the matter have narrated to Kalemba that the Chizhika family which is half Angolan and half Zambian lost their son Elijah Chizhika, a Grade 12 pupil of Maheba Secondary School after he complained of stomach pains but died on the way to the hospital.
However, upon Elijah’s dying, confusion engulfed the family as his mother’s relatives from Angola demanded for the body so that they perform a traditional ritual called ‘Kikondo’ where they would invoke spirits to reveal who or what led to the premature death of their son.
Not believing in witchcraft rituals, the father’s side refused to hand over the corpse and instead took it to a village hut where they have been subjecting it to their own version of Christian rituals.
Armed with bibles, the paternal side have for 4 days now been disturbing Elijah’s eternal slumber with fierce and continuous loud Pentecostal prayers laced with incoherent tongues in the hope that the boy will resurrect and go back to school.
In confirming the bizarre incident, North Western Province Commissioner of Police Joel Njase said that police are disturbed that despite being given Brought-in-Dead certification, they have up to now not buried the body as each side invokes its beliefs to solve the sudden death.
Kalemba