By A Correspondent- Bizzare incidents are playing out in the late former President Robert Mugabe’s rural Zvimba area after an 18-year-old high school pupil committed suicide by hanging near his newly buried father’s grave.

The incident took place Saturday night, just hours after his father had been buried.

A number of mourners were still to disperse.

Sources told a local publication the lifeless body of Tapiwa Dzepasi was found Sunday morning hanging from a tree as relatives proceeded to the graveyard to perform rituals at his late father’s grave.

The suspected suicide came just hours after the interment of Tapiwa’s father, Friday Dzepasi’s remains at the Mabvure village cemetery.

The elder Dzepasi died in Zambia early last week before repatriation of his remains for burial at the ancestral village.

“Tapiwa was an upper sixth student and was now orphaned following his father’s death. His mother passed on years ago and he was under the care of his paternal grandmother,” a relative said.

“He was reclusive and rarely talked. During his dad’s funeral he wept uncontrollably and was refusing to eat, and also showed signs of heavy distress. Tapiwa could have been uncertain of his future without a parent.”

The matter was reported at Kutama police station.

The incident comes barely hours after Mugabe’s family claimed his vengeful spirit was hovering around the area, killing and tormenting people who were trying to force the exhumation of his remains for burial at the National Heroes Acre in Harare.

Mugabe’s body was buried at his rural home in Kutama, Zvimba, following weeks of a protracted wrangling with government which had intended to lay him to rest at the national heroes’ acre in Harare against his wish.

Ever since, a messy battle has been raging for his exhumation, with the family he left behind adamant he should not be reburied.

The matter is currently in court.

One of the traditional leaders behind the fiasco, Chief Beperere, born Alfred Tome, succumbed to Covid-19 last month.

The family now claims he was a victim of Mugabe’s vengeful spirit.

His son Edward, who was spokesperson for the Zvimba chiefs when they met President Emmerson Mnangagwa in September last year to demand the re- burial of Mugabe, is now reportedly afflicted by an unusual ailment.

One of Edward’s sons is also said to be sick and Chiefs Zvimba and Chidziva are also said to be now bed-ridden.