Witch hunter or not?

Fake goblins give away bogus Tsikamutanda
Chinhoyi Bureau - the Herald

TWO fake goblins left in the blankets in which a witch hunter — Tsikamutanda — was sleeping in, after allegedly exorcising a house in Banket have led to his arrest.

Morris Mbofana (24) is now facing three counts of fraud after allegedly approaching three people claiming that he could rid their houses of evil spirits.

He allegedly forced his victims to sign a piece of paper as proof that they had willingly paid him.

In the first incident, Mbofana went to Fatima Tauro’s house at Mimosa Farm in Banket and identified himself as a traditional healer who had come to exorcise the house of goblins.

She consented to his proposals to cleanse the house at a fee of US$7 and three chickens. He allegedly removed some hairy objects with beads from Tauro’s daughter’s stomach and another from a clay pot and told her that the objects were goblins.

Mbofana indicated that there was a major cleansing ceremony that required an ox as payment. He demanded two goats that he had seen in the pen before threatening her with serious harm if she failed to pay.

In the second incident, he approached Miriam Chiringidza on March 5 and told her that he wanted to remove evil spirits, which were haunting her father’s family.

They went to Chiringidza’s house where she indicated that she had brought a traditional healer to exorcise the house of evil spirits.

Her father was reluctant to pay the US$23 that Mbofana was demanding. However, his two daughters offered to pay the money. He allegedly removed a hairy object similar to the one he removed in the first incident. He, however, indicated that the money they had paid was not commensurate with the work he had done.

Mbofana demanded two blankets, 2kg flour, 4kg sugar, two bars of laundry soap and two 750ml bottles of cooking oil.

He allegedly threatened the family with harm if they failed to meet his demand.

He again forced them to sign a paper declaring that they had not been induced to pay him.

Witchcraft in a modern world.

Woman dies of suspected runyoka


By Walter Nyamukondiwa in Chinhoyi

A Chinhoyi woman recently died in mysterious circumstances after complaining of severe stomach pains and later acting like a fish before spending two nights in a bathtub filled with water.

Tamari Seremwa (37) of Kamedza Primary School in Gambura Village under Chief Magonde in Makonde District spent last Saturday night and the whole of Sunday in water.
She would intermittently gulp the water and then spew it out like a fish.
Hospital medical superintendent Dr Collett Mawire confirmed the strange incident.
She only came out of the tub after Chief Magonde reportedly summoned her to his homestead to discuss her predicament.
However, she did not make it as she died soon after being discharged from hospital.
Seremwa’s death has set tongues wagging over what really happened.
A woman who saw Seremwa when she was at the hospital said the latter had confessed to being intimate with a man who had been "fixed" by his wife. The practice is known as runyoka or "fencing" in many circles.
"She would say the man’s mother had warned her not to hang around the man indicating that he had been fixed with runyoka by his wife.
"She regretted not listening to the man’s mother," the woman said.
Seremwa, the woman said, was complaining of suffering from extreme heat and dehydration whenever she got out of the water.
Runyoka is a "safety lock" applied on both men and women to enforce fidelity.
It is said that a person "fences" his/her spouse so that they do not have sexual relations with another person. Indulging in intercourse results in inexplicable illnesses that normally lead to death.
A nurse at the hospital said: "We had to run around to get water after commiserating with the pain that she was going through.
"It was a strange sight that we failed to diagnose but we had to try but we had to help her all the same."
She said whenever water levels in the tub were low, Seremwa would splash water all over her body and writhe like a fish out of its natural habitat. At the time of writing, the body was awaiting a post-mortem.
"It is an issue with circumstances that we cannot really comprehend in medical terms but which has caught the attention of everyone," Dr Mawire said.

Tales from Zimbabwe

Tales of Witchcraft Abound in Zimbabwe Many blame their personal troubles on supernatural influence
Cole Mallard
Chihota, Zimbabwe 05 March 2010

“When she came to barter with rural folk the trouble started. One of our neighbors requested [sugar] on credit and she refused. Before the end of the day she was bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears.”

In Zimbabwe, witchcraft is still common in rural areas. Hardly a week passes without a local report or newspaper story on the practice. For example, police recently cornered a man at the Mbare Mbare bus terminal, after they discovered a live cobra snake in his luggage. He told officers the reptile was one of his witching tools
About two weeks later, some women were discovered wandering naked in the early hours of the morning near Highfield. After being confronted by locals, they claimed they’d “flown” from a rural location during one of several night time escapades. But they said something went wrong and the spell wore off, before they could return to their original location.
Four years ago, the government proclaimed that supernatural powers do exist. But it says it still prohibits the use of magic if it harms someone.
Many Zimbabweans, especially those who grow up in rural areas, find it difficult to dismiss the existence of witchcraft. Tendai Manyimo,30, lives in Chitandara. He explained that his wife is a vendor and that her face became contorted after she was bewitched by rival vendors. He claims she’d been running a successful sugar sale venture:
“When she came to barter with rural folk the trouble started. One of our neighbors requested [sugar] on credit and she refused. Before the end of the day she was bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears,” he says.

Manyimo said a faith healer cured her.
David Nyemba, 77, from Mazhambe village believes he was bewitched by his aunt while he was employed as a driver in the city three years ago. He says a turning point came in his life when he quit his job in order to return to village life:
“I was the darling of the company management ,” he says, “and I did not realize I could have some hidden enemies.”
“My aunt pretended to like me and gave me money to spend. My instinct told me to refuse, but I went against my better judgment and spent it. I was demoted and harassed constantly by my superiors [which] never used to happen. I got the answers after visiting a traditional healer.”

Margaret Mashayamombe,83, is a traditional healer in Mutenda village, Chihota. She says witchcraft is used in families for revenge and spite.
Mashayamombe also says the frequency of recent reports on witchcraft indicates forces of good are triumphing over evil. She says Zimbabweans should respect traditions by performing rituals favored by their forefathers.
“Life was okay,” she asserts, “until some over-ambitious individuals went outside the country to get advice from traditional healers there on how to get rich quickly. That is where the problem began, because they came back with remedies that are harmful [to] others. All this is now being exposed due to the powers of the spirits of our forefathers.”
Sarudzai Nyota, 33, a member of the apostolic faith sect, says she believes the country would be better off without elevating the supernatural. Sarudzai says people should turn to God and seek salvation through Jesus Christ, as a way of overcoming being susceptible to witchcraft.
[Nyota says] The Christian church believes there’s only a “good” spirit, meaning what is called the Holy Spirit, whereas witchcraft has origins in Satanism.

This interesting story was reported in July of last year

Ruwa Murder - Boy Accuses Father of Witchcraft
8 July 2009

Harare — The 17-year-old Ruwa boy charged with killing his parents in cold blood last year has, in turn, accused his father of using him as a "goblin" to sustain his "mysterious" business empire.
The teenager made the startling claims when his trial opened before High Court judge Justice Tendayi Uchena on Monday. The boy allegedly gunned down his father and mother at their Ruwa home in April last year.
It is alleged that he shot his father in the head before heading to the bedroom where he opened fire on his mother who had been awakened by the gunshots.
According to reports, the father had, on the fateful day, woken up the boy at around 3am so that he could study. The teenager pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder.
In his defence outline, the boy's lawyer, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, claimed that during the study sessions, which were closed to other family members, his father would burn some roots and unspecified substances. The burning would invariably lead to some "body malaise and dizziness", reads the defence outline.
Adv Mpofu further submitted that over the weekends preceding the fateful day, the boy would spend around 19 hours in an unconscious state that only his father could break.

"Such was the accused's strange routine. The accused is now positively aware that he was being used as a goblin by his father in order to sustain and support his mysterious and vast business interests," Adv Mpofu said.
The boy's father ran a security company, among other businesses. However, the psychiatric report that forms part of the defence established that the boy suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy, fits affecting half of the brain.
"His conduct that morning was not voluntary and he committed the acts he is charged with without conscious knowledge. His actions were brought about by either the temporal lobe epilepsy or (the) spiritual world to which he had descended into," Adv Mpofu said.

Key State witness Mr Admire Musasa (24), who is related to the boy, yesterday gave his account of the events he witnessed early in the morning after the shooting. He said at around 5am a maid came to his bedroom and woke him up.
"She was looking worried and asked me to come with her. I got dressed and followed her to the dining room. I saw my uncle (the boy's father) seated on his chair with his head facing down on the table with his books," he said.
"I observed a white substance coming out from the back of his head. I shook him, but he did not respond," he testified. Mr Musasa said he then went up stairs with the intention of informing his aunt about "the horrible scene".
When he got to his aunt's bedroom, Mr Musasa said he found the door wide open and observed that there was disorder in the room.
He then went to his other aunt's bedroom and informed her before going to the teenager's bedroom to report the matter. Mr Musasa said after Ms Spiwe Chakuvinga, the younger sister to the boy's mother, entered the bedroom, she came out looking very worried.
"Her face had completely changed. Together we went downstairs. She also shook her brother-in-law in the same way I had done," he said.
While in the dining room, Mr Musasa said they heard the maid identified only as Precious shouting at the top of her voice: "Amai vapfurwawo futi (Mother has also been shot dead)."
The trial is now being held in open court following a successful application by the defence. Last month the court barred the Press from covering the proceedings, saying only close relatives were allowed into the courtroom because the suspect was a minor.
In terms of the law, court proceedings involving minor children ought to be conducted in camera.
However, Adv Mpofu argued there was no law that automatically obliged such proceedings to be held in camera.
He cited several case laws to support his contention, which was opposed by the State.
After considering arguments presented by both the defence and State counsels, the court ruled in favour of the defence.
However, in terms of the law it is the defence that can apply to have proceedings in such cases held in camera and not the State.
Adv Mpofu is being instructed by Ms Sharon Maphosa of Mawere and Sibanda law firm.

Ghost in Bulawayo

Earlier this month the following article appeared concerning unusual activity in Bulawayo.

Residents in Zimbabwe's sprawling city of Bulawayo are living in fear of a ghost that is reportedly wreaking havoc in the suburb.In separate interviews with
The Zim Diaspora yestersday, residents described how they have seen a huge ball of fire which usually burns in the air.They said the ghost has literally imposed a "curfew" in some parts of Mabuthweni suburb near
Mpopoma as residents are now scared of using the route patronised by the ghost.
Residents claimed that the ghost was very intimidating as it often follow residents who pass through "curfewed" places.
Another resident said: “At about 12 midnight last week I was up and about from my girlfriend's place when I saw a big ball of fire from a distance. Upon getting closer I noticed that the fire was burning on air, I could feel my hair rising. I have always thought those things were only seen on Stephen King’s movies but they are real.”
At times, they claimed, they woke up to find their property such as flower vases having been moved out of the house.“
After work, I usually passby a local beergarden to catch-up with my friends over a glass of beer before proceeding to my house in Mpopoma. Last week I was confronted by a ghost which kept on running behind me. It was so scary. I am now so scared in passing through that area again,” said Mr Nigel Ngoma.
“One of my friends sometime in December last year was injured while trying to flee the same ghost,” he added.
Another resident, Mrs Theresia Ngulube who lives near the bushy area patronised by the ghost, said she got the shock of her life last week when she found her flower vases having been moved out of her house during the night to the gate.“
I usually wake up at 5 am to do my household chores, however, last week was a different morning. I could not believe my eyes, upon opening the door, I noticed that all the vases were not there. At first, I thought that they had been stolen because there are a lot of thieves here,” she said.“
Then my husband went out to investigate only to find the vases outside the gate,” she said.“As I was relating the ordeal to one of my neighbours, she also told me that a simillar thing happened to her a few days ago, although she did not tell anyone. We then realized that something was amiss as we kept on hearing people saying there was ghost at our neighbour and from that point we were convinced that it was the ghost,” she said.
Many believe the ghost could be that of a local man who was brutally murdered at the same spot in 2008.“I certainly believe that it is him because that was a gruesome murder and at times it could be the work of his family who are at pains over the way their son died,” said Ms Nomalungelo Dlamini.
A ghost has been defined as the disembodied spirit or soul of a deceased person, although in popular usage the term refers only to the apparition of such a person. Often described as immaterial and partly transparent, ghosts are reported to haunt particular locations or people that they were associated with in life or at time of death.
Article courtesy; The Zimdiaspora

Ghostly Motel

High above Lake Kariba there is a motel long used by travellers as a watering hole on the long journey from Harare to Kariba and an overnight stopping point for visitors to Zambia, Mana Pools and the hunting areas on the Zambezi River.

While living in Zambia I often stayed overnight and the atmosphere in the bar and the food in the restaurant were always good.

However there is one room in this motel that is haunted.

It overlooks the valley below with a picture window over a magnificent view - the best room in the house! But the presence there is evil. I have purposely asked for this room on a few occasions - just to see if my mind and my mood played any part in the feeling I experienced - but each time i felt the same cold breeze and heard the same taps on the wall. On one occasion my parents occupied the room next door and i woke them up to see if there was anything wrong - they were fast asleep and had heard nothing!

Perhaps some wounded hunter had died in this room after being brought back from an unsuccessful hunt - wounded by an elephant or buffalo. Perhaps the spirit of one who loved the valley and wishes to see it again from this vantage point occupies the room?

I have tried to find a reason behind the coldness (even on the hottest nights) and the tapping but no one admits to there being anything in the haunted room.

Michael Jackson's ghost seen in Zimbabwe?

Jadyn Cassidy j.cassidy@allnewsweb.com
A reader has informed us of a bizarre story involving a sighting of the ghost of deceased singer, Michael Jackson, that is spreading through the African nation of Zimbabwe.
The sighting of Jackson's ghost occurred at the St Mary's Mission School,a Catholic institution, in Zimbabwe's capital of Harare. Allegedly a group of students aged from twelve to fourteen years were sitting along with some of the nuns that work at St Mary's and watching a nativity play that was organised after school hours.
Children dressed as Mary, Joseph and the Wise Men were on stage when suddenly the lights went out. Then ghost-like being appeared on stage waving a white-gloved hand. The terrified students emptied the hall along with the supervising nuns.
Almost all the students later agreed that it was Michael Jackson that they saw' 'It definitely was MJ' noted Theresa, a student at the school. 'It was his face and his clothes. he smiled and waived at us'
'I saw it too' commented Sister Maria 'it was not human and must have been a spirit. The students later told me it was Michael Jackson'.
News of the otherworldly event spread through the area and some interested locals even visited the hall in the hope that they too might see Jackson's ghost. Belief in ghosts is widespread in Zimbabwe.