Windhoek – Hordes of onlookers flocked to the Katutura graveyard where a ritual seemed to have been performed on one of the graves.
A security guard was doing his routine rounds in the cemetery at five in the morning on Saturday when he came across a dead chicken with a knife stuck into its flesh, which along with five needles was placed on a black and red cloth on a grave.
It is not yet clear what the ritual was for but the evidence certainly left onlookers worried about what it meant or represented.
According to the City Police’s public relations officer Fabian Amukwelele the suspected ritual act is the first of its kind to be reported at the graveyard. He added that evidence of such acts is only heard of but not really seen in broad daylight, whereby people have left behind proof of the dark arts.
Amukwelele warned the public that any activities in a graveyard and grave or tombstone alterations that need to be done within the premises, that are not supported by municipal bylaws, will be deemed illegal.
An approval for grave alteration and graveyard activities need to be approved by the municipality, he hammered home the point. If such activities are not approved, any member of the public caught or found breaking the bylaws would be fined.
“Members of the public should avoid visiting graves at odd hours,” Amukwelele further explained. He noted that guards at the cemetery often label trespassers as criminals.
Amukwelele said that vandalising the graveyard is very common, with reports of such acts coming in once or twice a month. He added that vandalism mostly occurs when the culprits happen to be under the influence of alcohol. This can be seen from the fallen wall of the graveyard as a result of reckless driving while people were under the influence of alcohol.
In other instances vandalism occurs when members of the public make use of the graveyard as a shortcut from Dorlam and Gogota areas in Katutura.
“We are requesting members of the public to stop making use of the graveyard as a shortcut,” Amukwelele said.