Memory Rasa
Villagers in Tarusenga village under chief Gadzingo in Gutu are living in fear as goblins (zvidhoma) are reportedly terrorising their families claiming human flesh resulting in the rise of mysterious deaths.
Villagers say they believe the goblins, just like humans, are also suffering from starvation due to the drought. One villager said his wife had recently fallen victim to goblin attacks.
“The village head does not want to help us. He is the one who is supposed to chase witches from the village but he is saying we must pray harder.
“My wife started complained of a severe headache around nine in the morning and by midday, her mouth had dislocated and we thought she had died. We called Madzibaba Peter who stays in Mbamba for exorcism prayers,” said the villager who refused to be named.
“She then started hallucinating while running towards my neighbours’ homestead with the goblins that attacked her saying they were fed-up with eating mealie-meal and they had been sent to collect more meat since Gonyeti was not enough.
“Gonyeti is one of our neighbors who mysteriously died three weeks ago after a beer drink at Tachiona business centre. He died the same day,” he said.
Other villagers said they are scared of taking the matter to Chief Gutu’s court as their identities would be revealed thus exposing them to the witches’ wrath.
“The goblins always speak through their victims that they belong to a witches committee made up of seven villagers and they stay in one of the witch’s granary. Most people here want to relocate but it’s hard to abandon our fathers’ graves and land because of a few wicked individuals,” another villager.
A representative of Chief Gutu, Kennedy Masanganise, told TellZim News that cases of witchcraft were difficult to deal with as victims are scared to speak out and there is never tangible evidence to merit a hearing.
‘It is an offense to label someone a witch; however we deal with these cases quite often but usually they involve family members. In most cases, they are not mere allegations but true stories. The drought has made it worse. Witchcraft is real,” said Masanganise.news
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