Among the Stones: Business, Grief and Ritual at Harare’s Rugare Granites

By Valerie Mpundu

In Harare’s Rugare Granites, livelihoods depend directly on human loss. Here, carvers negotiate prices while grieving clients pray over freshly cut granite. It is called business yet nothing about the day-to-day work feels ordinary.

Chisels ring out at dawn, and white stone dust hangs thick in the air. To Carver X, Rugare Granites is simply a workplace. But for the families who walk through the gate, it represents the final physical touchpoint with a lost loved one. That emotional and practical tension is something he navigates every single day.

In 2023, after losing his job as a security guard, he arrived at the yard with nothing but his hands. He started as a general hand moving slabs, loading delivery trucks, and watching experienced men carve names into stone. "Ndakatanga kushanda paRugare Granites ndadzingwa basa re security guard. Maive muna 2023. Ndakatanga ndiri general hand ndichiita loading nekuburitsa matombo evamwe [I started working at Rugare Granites after being fired as a security guard in 2023. I began as a general hand loading and moving stones for others]," he recalls. Today, he manages orders himself, negotiates prices, and delivers dignity—one tombstone at a time.

The Business and the Spiritual Weight of Stone

On paper, the commercial process is straightforward: advertise, quote, collect a 50% to 75% deposit, deliver the final piece, and collect the balance. "I believe it is a normal business that does not need rituals," he says. Yet, in this environment, stone is rarely just physical material.

"Pane imwe time ndakave nema clients vakasvikotanga kuomberera matombo avo vachitaura mashoko ekukumbira [At one point I had clients who began clapping their hands in reverence over their stones, speaking words of supplication]," he recalls. "They stood over the granite and talked to someone who wasn’t there."

He remembers their exact words: "Takutsvagirai chishongo chepamusha wenyu sezvavakuitwa mazuvano. Kuisa mucherechedzo wepamakaradzikwa wedombo. Saka titungamirireiwo tifambe zvakanaka, tinosvika toita basa redu zvakanaka sezvirikuitirwawo vamwe! [We are securing an ornament for your resting home as is done these days, putting a marker where you lie. So guide our journey so we travel safely and accomplish this work properly, just as it is done for others!]"

They then loaded the tombstone to traditional songs and ululations. For many Zimbabweans, a headstone is chishongo chepamusha, the honorific ornament of the family home. While Carver X does not lead the prayers, he pauses his work and gives families their space. The yard itself holds quiet stories of profound loss. "At night, you’d sometimes find people sleeping naked on top of grave markers," he says softly. "Grief makes people do unexpected things."

Financial Realities and the Future of the Craft

The spiritual weight is matched by steep economic pressures. "Most clients want our products to be very cheap," he explains. Cash flow management and timing remain constant challenges, "Zviya zvekuti ndotora mari ya client B ndogadzira dombo re client A anticipating client A would come collect his dombo early. Then client B came first [The issue of taking Client B's money to finish Client A's stone, expecting Client A to collect early only for Client B to arrive first]."

In the trade, they call it "double crossing orders." A single financial miscalculation leaves two grieving families waiting. As modern technology evolves, automation is slowly reaching the stone trade. "Technology may improve the quality and impression of our job as more speed and accuracy can be achieved through the evolution of A.I. if applied positively," he observes.

For now, the work remains rooted in manual labor: sweat, steel tools, and airborne dust. Young apprentices learn the trade, widows select typography, and children trace carved letters with their fingers. At Rugare Granites, economic survival and ancestral remembrance exist on the very same slab. “You don’t need to understand everything,” he says, wiping white stone dust from his hands. “You just need to do the work and respect the people.”

Rugare Granites Harare tombstones