WE, in the village, value life, it is sacred. There are many ways to express shock, pain and collective shame. But none feel adequate when it comes to describing the terror that grips a society quietly witnessing the mutilation of its own sons and daughters, all in the name of enrichment.

There is an unmistakeable pattern emerging, and it is a sinister one. The recurring reports of mutilated bodies, their lives snatched in silence and their remains discarded with an inhuman cruelty, can no longer be explained away as random acts of violence. We are dealing with something darker, more damning, and far more dangerous: the harvesting of human lives for ritual purposes.

As someone who has spent a lot of time chronicling the steady, if difficult, progress of our beloved Zimbabwe under this ‘Brick by Brick’ column, I am appalled. This is not the Zimbabwe we are building. We cannot speak of ‘nyika inovakwa nevene vayo/ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo’ with conviction while some among us are reverting to the Dark Ages, performing actions not only bereft of modern civility but dripping with satanic malice. It is not enough to condemn. We must confront, expose, and dismantle this rot.

We have heard it from the highest levels of law enforcement. When the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), through Commissioner Paul Nyathi, openly admits that many of the gruesome murder cases across provinces bear the markings of ritualistic intent, it must send a chill down every citizen’s spine.

“The prevalence of murder cases that are suspected to be for ritual purposes is worrying. Why comprehensive statistics are not readily available, not much time passes by without a mysterious murder recorded across the country’s provinces. In most of these cases, the bodies are discovered with missing limbs, which leads to the reasonable conclusion that the parts are being harvested for ritual purposes . . .,” said the police spokesperson.

These are not isolated. These are not accidents. These are systematic, cruel, and calculated sacrifices of human lives. And for what? For luck? For money? For influence? For power?

Have we sunk so low as a people that we now believe the blood of an innocent child or the dismembered limbs of a young woman can earn us the wealth we do not have the patience to work for? Where did we lose our moral compass?

Our history is drenched in blood not of ritualistic greed but of noble sacrifice. Men and women, our forebears, perished so that we could inherit a land where we thrive with dignity.Their dreams were not of a Zimbabwe where success was carved from coffins and wealth was summoned from shallow graves.

Brick by brick, we have promised to build, but some are secretly digging graves in that same foundation. This is not just murder; this is sabotage. These heinous acts are the spiritual vandalism of our national house. They are done under cover of night, but their effects bleed into daylight, weakening the pillars of community trust, national security, and shared values.

Some will dismiss this as an exaggeration. Others will hide behind the argument that these are isolated cases. But one person killed is one too many.

What makes this even more sickening is the cowardice of the perpetrators. They do not simply kill. They desecrate. They dismember. They steal from the bodies they believe hold power. This is beyond crime. It is blasphemy against life. It is the clearest form of Satanism.

And do not be fooled: This evil does not operate in the shadows alone. It walks among us. It speaks fluent Shona and Ndebele. It wears suits, drives expensive cars, and sometimes even holds respected positions in society. We have allowed the unthinkable to fester because we refuse to look it in the eye. As long as we treat this as superstition or village gossip, the perpetrators become bolder, the killings more grotesque, and the rituals more brazen. We need to break the silence.

Where are the prophets? Where are the traditional leaders who should be standing up and condemning this evil from within our culture? Where are the politicians who campaign on morality and family values? Where is the collective outcry?

We must end these brutal and cruel acts. The responsibility lies with all of us. First, with the law enforcement agencies to not only investigate but to hunt and break these networks of ritual murderers. They must be treated as national security threats. Second, with our traditional and spiritual leaders, to cleanse our communities of these abhorrent practices and preach the dignity of hard work, not shortcut sorcery. Third, with our educators and youth mentors to teach that wealth earned through blood is a curse not a blessing.

And, lastly, with all of us to never look the other way. To never say “it doesn’t affect me”. Because it does. A mutilated corpse found in Mashonaland Central or Matabeleland South is a wound in the soul of the whole nation. We must call this what it is — evil.

Those who practise these rituals believe that success can be bought with death. But the truth, eternal and inviolable, is that such success is hollow. It crumbles. It corrupts. It consumes. Nothing good can grow from blood spilled unjustly.

Let us return to the values that made our liberation struggle noble the belief in human dignity, in collective effort, in sacrifice for the greater good, not the sacrificing of each other. Let us remember that the most powerful force we possess as a people is not some concoction prepared in secret but the unity of a shared dream, the determination of a people determined to make life better for all and the pride of earning our way through honesty and sweat.

We should be exporting software, innovations, goods, and services, not exporting stories of headless corpses and body parts found in forests. This should not be the image that accompanies our flag. These stories must not define us.

We are capable of so much better. I know it. I see it every day in young entrepreneurs starting businesses with nothing but hope and effort. I see it in teachers in rural classrooms who mould minds with few resources but much love. I see it in farmers who defy the climate with ingenuity, and in nurses who work with compassion. These are the builders of Zimbabwe.

Ritual murderers are not builders. They are destroyers. They are termites in the beams of our national house. And just as a builder must remove rotten wood to make a home stable, we must rid our society of this sickness.

The entire nation, from the village hut to the Parliament bench must rise up and reject this scourge. There must be no safe place, no shelter, no tolerance for this evil. Let there be laws that reflect the horror of the crime, sentences that deter it and public education that chokes it of oxygen.

No one should die for someone else’s bank balance. No family should have to bury a loved one whose body has been desecrated. No child should grow up believing that riches come not from hard work, but from human sacrifice.

To the perpetrators, let it be known: your time is up. The eyes of a nation are open. We see you. Zimbabwe is for life, for growth, for light not for death, darkness, and decay.

• Businessman Tawanda Chenana is also a philanthropist and Secretary for Lands for ZANU PF Mashonaland East Province.