Mermaids in Zim case
2005-03-17 15:50
Special Report
Foreign airlines have stopped using Zimbabwe's airspace because the country's meteorological service is incapable of supplying weather information they need, according to officials.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe says he doesn't expect the US sanctions on his country to be lifted soon.
Harare - A woman testified that she paid a popular local musician to fly five mermaids from London to Harare to help her recover a stolen car and cash.
Businesswoman Magrate Mapfumo said she paid 35 million Zimbabwean dollars ($5 000) to fly the invisible mermaids to Harare on the advice of musician Edna Chizema, who is on trial for theft by false pretences, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported on Thursday.
Zimbabwe's Shona people believe mermaids are fearsome enchantresses capable of wreaking vengeance on wrongdoers.
Mapfumo testified that she sought Chizema's advice after the theft of her car and a significant amount of cash.
Mapfumo said she also paid for the mermaids to be housed at Harare's plush tourist resort, the Jameson Hotel, and supplied with mobile phones and electrical generators to cope with the Zimbabwean capital's numerous power cuts, the paper said.
"I asked about the names of the mermaids and I was told they were called Emma, Charmaine, Sharvine, Bella and a fifth one who was said to be an Arab mermaid," the Herald quoted Mapfumo as telling the court.
"All the time, she (Chizema) told me I could not see the mermaids as only spirit mediums could do so." - AP
- SAPA