Witch-hunters stalk Masvingo

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The stale smell of opaque beer wafts from a dingy bar nestled between an old and largely empty grocery shop and a butchery at Sosera business centre — a rural outpost located 70 km along the Masvingo-Mutare highway.

The stale smell of opaque beer wafts from a dingy bar nestled between an old and largely empty grocery shop and a butchery at Sosera business centre — a rural outpost located 70 km along the Masvingo-Mutare highway.

By Tatenda Chitagu

Music from man of the moment Jah Prayzar, plays at ear-blasting volume, making normal communication virtually impossible.

Everybody must shout to be heard in this bar, evidently the crowd’s favourite at the shopping centre.

Only two middle-aged men are drinking ice-cold beers, surrounded by four women who are also sipping some cheap whisky brand.

They are clearly the most sophisticated patrons of this bar, by local standards. About a dozen other men forming a big circle on stools by the bar entrance are sharing opaque beer.

Flashing wads of $100 notes, the two men are literally running the show at the usually sleepy shopping centre, ordering more rounds of beer and giving commands to men clearly older than them.

They also send the villagers on errands to buy meat for barbeque, or to bring their expensive cellphones they had left charging in a silver Volkswagen Polo tinted car parked outside.

These two men, who have literally made the day for the locals, are the controversial witch-hunters, notoriously known as tsikamutandas.

They have camped at the shops for close to a month now, traversing the length and breadth of the area, “flushing out” goblins and other voodoo while claiming to expose witches among villagers.

They have left a trail of destruction in their wake as brother has turned against brother, mother against daughter and father against son in Masvingo.

Families have been ruined as all of a sudden, the magic of these tsikamutandas has “uncovered” the witchcraft that has allegedly led to fathers “eating” their own grandchildren and mothers keeping pythons, goblins and other creatures that emit smoke upon being struck with the witch-hunters’ spear.

Today, they are not conducting their controversial witch-hunts as there is a funeral in the village they were supposed to be exorcising, about 10km away.

Not that they are grieving with the family. They took a “day off” because many people in the village are attending the funeral wake so they would not have found that many “clients” today.

Nyengeterai Makomo lost her cow to a Tsikamutanda
Nyengeterai Makomo lost her cow to a Tsikamutanda

Despite their partying and merry-making that has earned them hangers-on and admirers, less than 200m away, Nyengeterai Makomo, who hardly remembers her age, regrets their coming into the area.

“I lost my only cow to these tsikamutandas,” she said. “I never invited them here, but they came after a meeting with the village head and other villagers where they randomly accused people of witchcraft and demanded cattle as payment for allegedly removing the witchcraft objects at the people’s homesteads,” she said.

“I could not bar them for fear of being evicted from the area by the village head, and that I would appear as if I was hiding something.

“But I do not believe in the occult and I have never touched or used any witchcraft object.

“They turned my house upside down and in a split second, they brought out a huge snake.

“Up to now, I do not understand what happened. I have never seen such a snake in my life.

“They took it and said they would burn it at some place far away from the village because the ashes were not supposed to remain at my place.

“For that, they demanded my only cow, which I did not want to give them.

“Now I do not have any source of draught power as I used to pair it with another one which belongs to my son,” she added.

Makomo said what pains her is that the beast was sold for a song to a neighbour.

“They sold it at a give-away price. They had nothing to lose,” she said.

Makomo is not the only one in this predicament. Hundreds of people in Makomo, Musukura, Chikwadze, Goredema, Chinoera and Ngundu villages have lost countless livestock ranging from cattle, goats and poultry to the witch-hunters against their wishes, they said.

If one does not have any livestock, they are forced to pay in cash for the witch hunters’ services.

Another victim, Shereni Rwatirera (65), from Musukura village, also lost one beast after being accused of keeping a goblin.

“I never invited the tsikamutandas here, but my sons from the extended family approached me and said we should see the witch-hunters.

“The witch-hunters then came alone at my place a day later saying I had a goblin. They started searching my house and took a bag with my South Africa-based son’s clothes.

“They searched it and brought out something which I do not even know, and said it was a goblin. But I told them the owner of the bag was away in South Africa.

“For that, they demanded a beast. I had no option but to give them, but what I know is that when my son comes back from South Africa, there will be trouble. He will want that cow back,” he said.

Other villagers in Ngundu village where the witch-hunters have taken four cattle, $680, several goats and hens said the witch-hunters instill fear in the villagers.

However, villagers doubt the witch-hunters possess the powers they claim to have, saying the same items like the snake “exorcised” from other villages was always being rediscovered in its same size, type and colour in other villages.

Witch-hunting is unlawful in Zimbabwe and labelling another person a witch is a crime.

Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association president Geo-rge Kandiero said they had received complaints from many people but they were constrained from taking action.

“What I know is that in areas such as Bikita and Zaka, we have serious issues of cattle rustlers who are masquerading as witch-hunters resulting in the loss of livestock for many families.

“As an association, we are against the idea and this must came to an end,” Kandiero said.

“The correct procedure should be done after chiefs have consulted the villagers before the cleansing process, not for them to connive with the police and these cattle rustlers so as to rob the villagers of their livestock.”

Councillor for the area, Lawrence Vova, said many people had approached him complaining about the activities of the witch-hunters.

“Many people lodged complaints with me about the actions of these so-called witch hunters, saying they were ripping them off,” he said.

“Of interest was that they mainly target well-to-do families where there are cattle or households which are well-up.

“So, my question is, are all wizards rich? What if someone worked hard to get what they have; and other people who are jealous just say ‘he or she is a witch?’

“In other words, does it mean that anyone who is well-up in the community is a witch and got the riches through witchcraft?” Vova asked.

He said the area was faced with hunger and the witch-hunters were worsening the situation by taking the few livestock villagers had left.

“These witch-hunters are creating permanent animosity within families and communities,” he said.

“They are sowing hatred and disharmony and I tell you, we will have retributive violence from those pinpointed as witches, seeking revenge from those that pinpointed them or bought their cattle for a song.

“I believe a person goes to hospital if in need of medical attention, not the other way round. After all, they came all the way from Guruve, do they mean that there are no witches there?” asked Vova.

The councillor appealed to the responsible authorities to stop the witch-hunters.

One of the witch-hunters, Edmund Mudimu, popularly known by his trade name Dumba, terminated calls each time this reporter introduced himself.

He then sent a terse text message to this reporter that read:

“We are not answering your calls, do not call me again. Am I the only witch-hunter in Zimbabwe.”

Chief Marozva said he was unaware of the presence of the witch-hunters. He promised to investigate the matter.

“I am away on Parliament business in Harare. I do not know about that, it is unlawful and I will have to check when I am back,” he said.