A careless truck driver in Zimbabwe felled a tree from which a famous spirit medium and anti-colonial icon was reputedly hanged in 1898, sparking wild speculation across the country.
A city council truck carrying out repair work accidentally knocked down the sacred tree, a Harare landmark considered by some to have magical powers, newspapers reported.
The tree is believed to be the one from which British settlers hanged Mbuya Nehanda, a Shona spirit medium who was also a hero of the struggle against colonial forces.
Local lore has it that she could bring rain in times of drought and that she said before dying: “My bones will rise again.”
Some Zimbabweans saw the death of “Nehanda's tree” as a bad omen and others as a harbinger of political change in a country which has been ruled by President Robert Mugabe since its 1980 independence and is holding an election next year. -Sapa-AFP