By Crime and Courts Reporter- A University of Zimbabwe professor was poisoned and died at Madzibaba Ishmael’s shrine, it has emerged.

Prof Itai Muwati died two years ago after visiting the shrine in Nyabira, and the police have been keeping the postmortem results, only to hand them over to his family on Monday.

The late professor’s family is now trying to recover the 30 cattle and two vehicles, which included a Honda Fit and a grinding mill, which they say belonged to the late Professor but disappeared after his death.

He is one of scores of people who are believed to have been buried without a burial order at the compound at Lily Farm in Nyabira.

His family has now told H-Metro that they tried to file a report with the police, against Madzibaba Ishmael as they suspected foul play, but their efforts were frustrated by the police in Nyabira.

His body was later exhumed by the family and reburied at his rural home in Mhondoro-Ngezi.
His postmortem results, which were given to his family on Monday, two years after his death, showed that the late Prof Muwati was poisoned.

Muwati family spokesperson, Martin Muwati, told H-Metro that the family now wanted to collect his property from the compound.

“Something suspicious has been happening in Nyabira,” said Martin.
“Our relative died in 2022 and we were never given the postmortem results only to be called by the current Nyabira ZRP Officer In Charge yesterday (on Monday) to collect them.
“We tried in vain to lodge a police report against Madzibaba Ishmael, following the death of Prof Muwati at his shrine in 2022.

“The Officer in Charge, Musekiwa, blocked us saying (Madzibaba Ishmael’s) team was violent, and we felt threatened, but we now know that the issue was to stop us from collecting our late relative’s property.”
He added:
“Prof had 30 cattle, two vehicles that included a Honda Fit, a grinding mill, a laptop but all these were never handed over to us.
“Hanzi akafa asina chaakanga ainacho.
“It is now surfacing that Madzibaba Ishmael had been collecting everything of value from his followers, who include the late Prof Muwati.
“Members at the compound are forced to work and Madzibaba Ishmael collects the fruits of their labour.”

Martin said Prof Muwati’s particulars, including bank cards, were never recovered.

Prof Muwati was found dead on June 6, 2022, in unclear circumstances.

He was buried a few hours later at a shallow grave at Lily Farm before his relatives demanded the exhumation of his body.
-H-Metro