Elsewhere in this edition, we run a story of a group of criminals that is going around the country masquerading as witch-hunters and stealing poor villagers’ cattle, goats and other livestock after accusing them of witchcraft.
The Oracle by Tangai Chipangura
They are said to be moving in three groups of five and had, as of last week, wreaked havoc in many areas of Bikita — from Chipinda at the western border of Bikita right down to Makotore, some 40km away.
Their modus operandi, according to their victims, is uniform and the discovered witchcraft objects are always the same. They are said to have stolen an average four herd of cattle from every one of the dozens of villages that they have descended on, leaving hitherto closely knit families at each other’s throats — accusing each other of having caused family deaths and other calamities that might have befallen the families before — as indeed should be the case in natural life.
One of the witch-hunters’ leaders, easily identified by his warts-riddled body, has particularly gained notoriety in areas around Pamushana Mission, Sosera and surrounding communities. He is “famed” for finding huge snakes — some say it is a python — from homes of accused witches. He has also “discovered” other objects which he claims are goblins that “breathe” and emit smoke upon being stabbed by his spear.
What is curious, however, and which fact clearly gives their dirty trick away, is the fact that the snake, as described by the villagers and the smoking goblins are the same that are found from household to household. The witch-hunter tells his victims and the scores of awed villagers that he cannot burn the snake at the site of its discovery because the snake’s ashes would be too dangerous to leave in the vicinity. He therefore must take the snake with him for the villagers’ protection, much to the relief of the gullible villagers who must then part with several herds of cattle — their only source of wealth — to pay these thieves.
So, the snake is taken to another village where the same trick is played on other unassuming villagers who again must pay more cattle, more goats and more cash. Once you are targeted, you must pay the witch-hunters for removing “your witchcraft”. Refusing is not an option given the threats that the warts masked witch chief unleashes on you and the pressure from fellow villagers who are eager to get rid of the witchcraft that has “eaten” their folk. I am not too sure where these tsikamutanda obtain the snakes from which must be a case of interest to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Advisory, but I certainly know where they get the objects that they frighten poor villagers with, claiming they are breathing goblins.
There is a place in Mbare, I believe there are now many other similar places in this business elsewhere in Zimbabwe, where these objects are manufactured for sale to these fake witch-hunters. I investigated and found this while doing a story about these witch-hunters over 20 years ago.
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There are young men that are in the business of making these scary objects from black, red and white cloths, decorated with beads and other frightful artefacts. Some of these objects are then stuffed with that type of grass whose prickly ends twist and curl around each other as the grass dries. When these dry strands are immersed in water, you can see them unwind in fascinating fashion. When this unwinding of grass takes place inside the packed and compressed goblin-designed object, it becomes a spooky moving object dressed in the frightening multi-coloured beads — and bingo, you have your breathing goblin!
Most of the villagers that have been accused of witchcraft later told stories of apparent hypnosis where they find they are tongue-tied, powerless and too shocked to deny any wrongdoing while the tsikamutanda is at work. They only come to their senses after they have given a go-ahead for their cattle to be driven away. That is when they realise they have been duped because in real life they know nothing about the objects allegedly fished out of their homes. An elderly woman in her late 80s was said to have collapsed in shock and was still traumatised as of last week after the same snake that had been found in faraway Chipinda had allegedly been found in a sack inside her kitchen. Mbuya Chinanga’s son going by the name Zvondi said the incident had left the old woman in such shock it would be difficult for her to recover.
But these conmen are said to be operating with the blessing of the village headmen and local chiefs. Police officers at nearby police posts such as Bikita Minerals and Nyika Growth Point are said to be aware of the incidents which happen in broad daylight. The witch-hunting attracts hundreds of villagers, making it impossible for local police and chiefs to be unaware of the happenings. They, however, seem to have chosen to fold their hands while livestock is stolen on a daily basis, with nobody being arrested despite the gravity of the crime of stock-theft in Zimbabwe.
Because these thieves come to Bikita in Masvingo from as far away areas as Mhondoro and Guruve, they cannot drive their loot back home, so they sell the cattle and goats to the same locals and butcheries for a song and without papers.
The Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers’ Association has disowned these witch-hunters, calling them common thieves and criminals and we expect the police and local chiefs to protect the poor villagers, their subjects from this abomination.
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