Lessons had to be suspended at Nyabata High School in Renco Mine yesterday after a number of learners collapsed in what is suspected to be a satanism attack.
School authorities had to send all the learners home after the number of victims continued to rise which they felt they could fail to contain.
The school head Boniface Chuma could neither confirm nor deny the incident saying he was not at the school at the moment. He said:
“I am not at the school at the moment, I am attending a meeting at another school so I cannot comment on the matter.
Sources however said the incident started in form 3 South where one learner fell unconscious before others followed suit.
“One girl collapsed in form 3 South, she was taken outside and others began to collapse in the same class.
A few minutes later, more were reported to have collapsed in the opposite class, form 3 West.
“A few moments later more learners collapsed in other classes until authorities decided to send all learners home as they could not cope with the increasing number of victims.
Another source claimed that a bigger number of affected learners are from a Zion Christian Church sect and said the incident had allegedly been prophesied by a local self-proclaimed prophet.
“Most of the girls who collapsed are from ZCC Mbungo and they said they had been told about the incident earlier at church and were told that if it happened they had to sing and all satanists including teachers would reveal themselves but school authorities denied them permission to sing when the incident happened.
“Church elders were called and prayed for the victims before taking them to the local church.
Another source said the incident started some few weeks ago with isolated cases until this week when the number increased to more than 10.
Some sources who allegedly spoke to the victims said it started when they were given oranges by one learner and they started feeling cold marking the spate of collapses that had been recorded over a few weeks.
Last year (2022) there were reports of satanism attacks at the Mining Compound with two children, one from Nyabata and two from Renco Mine Primary School which are less than 500m apart being said to have been initiated by a teacher from Mashapa Primary School which is a kilometer from both schools.
The teacher happened to stay next door with the victims in Renco Mine compound with the matter having been taken to Chief Nyajena’s court but the accused was denying the allegations.
The victims would collapse, convulse and writhed in some incidences and narrated spine chilling accounts of how they do the practice.
