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Mashudu Mambo
A WIDOW from Sikithi in Matobo, Matabeleland South province will never forget the day a self-styled witch-hunter, popularly known as Tsikamutanda humiliated her when he assaulted her with sticks before taking her property claiming she had failed to pay for his services.
Cornilia Moyo (65) was among villagers who were being ‘cleansed’ by the tsikamutanda Nqobizitha Sibanda (36) who later teamed up with his colleague who is also self-proclaimed traditional healer Neville Mpofu (21) as a way to clear allegations that were being levelled against her from her in-laws after her husband’s death.
They were accusing her of being a witch and blamed her for the death of her husband.
Narrating her near-death experience to B-Metro at the hands of the Tsikamutanda, Moyo said:
“In 1976, l came to Matobo from Plumtree to help my sister who was barren and l gave birth to seven children, and our husband then died last year in December.
“After his death, a lot of people came up with different theories to explain the cause of his death and my sister and l were seen as the main suspects.”
Moyo said the accusations made them opt for divine intervention to clear their names.
“My sister and l then decided to seek help from traditional healers and that is how l met Sibanda and his assistant Mpofu.
“When l met Sibanda in Silobini, he pretended to be in a trance and told me that people in my area hate me and they killed my husband. I then invited him to my sister’s house for cleansing and promised him a cow as payment,” said Moyo.
She said Sibanda came to her sister’s house and instructed them to remove everything claiming that there were goblins in the house.
“Sibanda ordered us to remove the property in the house at night, but he could not find anything, he then told us that the goblins had disappeared and gone to my husband’s grave.
“We ran to the grave and when we got there, he poured some water on the grave and said that the goblins had gone to my house,” said Moyo.
Moyo added that when they got to her house Sibanda failed to show them any goblins but he demanded his payment.
“We did not see anything until morning, he continued demanding payment and l refused.
“This angered Sibanda who retaliated by accusing me of being a witch and he told the villagers that he wanted to help the community get rid of a witch that had terrorised the area. I was assaulted on that day and l almost died,” said Moyo.
Moyo said Sibanda and Mpofu stayed at her house for some days and took her property that was later recovered by the police.
“He then took away my property that includes blankets, clothes, mattresses and speakers. This man is not a traditional healer, he is a thief who saw my home as a target,” said Moyo.
Moyo said her desire is to find a traditional healer who will clear her name as she and her sister have been labelled witches by their in-laws.
“I have tried to encourage my in-laws to go with me to a traditional healer whom I will pay to prove my innocence but they have all refused saying that they do not believe in traditionalists,” said Moyo.
The duo was caught and arrested last week Thursday in Bulawayo after they had fled from the village. They were taken to the Bulawayo Central Police Station where the matter is being investigated.
Moyo’s situation is similar to a number of widows in rural communities who are being targeted by witch-hunters who accuse them of practising witchcraft before embarking on so-called cleansing ceremonies where they demand their livestock as payment.
In some instances, they move with live snakes in elderly women’s homes and later accuse them of possessing those snakes in order to get away with their beasts.
Moyo’s case is also a graphic illustration of how the plight of widows has been one of the marginalised issues in society that has led to a number of them being duped by self-styled prophets in a bid to redeem themselves from being accused of killing their husbands.
Their plights are almost similar in all settlements as they are accused of practising witchcraft and left homeless besides grieving.
Some are killed for the imagined crime of killing their husbands.
Villagers in Sikithi in Matobo, complained that elderly widows were being targeted in the attacks.
“Elderly women with beasts, particularly widows are the major victims. They accused them of practising witchcraft or possessing live snakes before they took away their beasts claiming they will be cleansing them,” said a villager who preferred anonymity for fear of victimisation.
Another widow from the area who is crying for justice and requested anonymity said they were still tormented by memories of the attacks and called on the courts to punish the suspects.
“It is sad that these tsikamutandas are working in cahoots with local traditional leadership. More cases are going unreported since these bogus prophets are invited by community leaders and the affected people are afraid of victimisation,” the victim said.
Research shows that being identified as a witch in a community can have a serious effect on a woman. Not only might she be expelled from her land by her in-laws; in the worst-case scenario, she could be killed.
The government and some civil society organisations have been working to end these harmful practices for some time.
Zimbabwean laws on witchcraft are governed by the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957.
The Act was amended, to make it an offence for a person who pretends to exercise supernatural powers, to impute the cause of certain occurrences to another person; and to provide for incidental matters.
mbulelo smpofu
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