…stranded N’angas accuse former minister of using and dumping them
Cephas Shava
Mwenezi -A group of self-styled traditional healers (n’angas) who had been housed at former Zanu PF heavyweight and Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti’s orphanage before their symbiotic relationship turned sour have accused the latter of using and dumping them following their eviction from the facility a few weeks ago.
The group of 28 comprising of men, women and children are accusing Bhasikiti of backtracking on his initial pledges to them.
The n’angas, led by one Sinibio Kakono also known as Gunjeremhute, were a few weeks ago evicted from the orphanage after Bhasikiti successfully applied for a court order at the Mwenezi Magistrate Court which necessitated the ultimate removal of his former consultants.
With their belongings strewn all over an open space in the bush along the Masvingo-Beitbridge road, Tellzim News came face-to-face with the worst nomadic life style which for weeks now had become the group’s everyday life.
Gunjeremhute who claims to be on a mission of fasting for the country blamed Bhasikiti for the group’s current predicament saying it was Bhasikiti himself who convinced him and his group to leave Seke (Chitungwiza) where they were based before even harvesting their crops. Gunjeremhute further confirms that it was indeed Bhasikiti who promised to accommodate them at his orphanage but had now dumped them using the Magistrates Court.
“We were in Seke when Bhasikiti visited our shrine and he consulted us and we helped him to make a fortune out of his gold mines. After visiting us twice, Bhasikiti was impressed by what we did for him and he later on came back with his truck and he carried all of us free of charge to be here in Mwenezi. He himself is the one who volunteered to house us at his orphanage because we worked on a number of his problems.
“Bhasikiti is the one who allowed us to clear and grow crops at the same orphanage but now given that our crops are mid-way for harvesting, owing to the court order, we are being barred from attending to them. We had initially agreed with Bhasikiti that we were going to stay at the orphanage as we please, that’s why we had begun some serious farming activities there,” said Gunjeremhute.
However, in a telephone interview Bhasikiti who admitted having at one point consulted one of the n’angas said the healers later on came on their own to Mwenezi and he only accommodated them after they promised that they were going to stay for only two months.
“I am not the one who brought them here but rather they came on their own. What is correct is that at one point in time I sought the assistance of one of them after one of my surveyors advised that there was need for traditional rites to be performed first for our mining activities to succeed.
“After one of them visited my mine, they later on approached me saying that they have got some prayers for the country which they want to perform here in Mwenezi. They approached me sometime in June last year and I decided to temporarily accommodate them at the orphanage after they promised to stay for only two months. When the two months lapsed, they began to give excuses and that is when we decided to seek an eviction order from the courts,” said Bhasikiti.
The former minister who further opened up on the rapes charges which he is facing said the allegations only surfaced after he served the healers with the eviction order.
He said he was the first person to raise a red flag after he suspected that the minor (who later turned out to be his alleged victim) was sexually abused by one of the traditional leaders.
“Though the rape case is now before the Magistrate Courts, I can safely tell you that the same healers are the ones who framed me after I served them with the eviction order,” he added.
Bhasikiti who was arrested end of December last year over allegations of raping a minor who was based at his orphanage was released on bail pending trial. Soon after his release from remand he immediately initiated the eviction of the n’angas from the orphanage.
The healer’s group which had completely nothing to cover themselves and their loads of belongings from the current incessant rains which Mwenezi district are still stuck in the area.
Following their eviction from the orphanage, the stranded group is now camping in a secluded bush just a few meters from where they were evicted, along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway just less than three kilometres from Rutenga Growth Point.
