Online Reporter
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu
IT sounds like something straight out of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, but for the stunned residents of West Nicholson, it was all too real.
A woman’s handbag allegedly transformed into a live uxamu (monitor lizard) right before her eyes, leaving the entire community gripped by fear and fascination.
The unidentified woman was reportedly waiting by the roadside, hoping to catch a lift to Gwanda. When a driver stopped to offer her a ride, she reached down to pick up her bag, only to find a scary, wriggling, scaly creature where her belongings had been.
Witnesses say the woman screamed in horror while the terrified driver sped off at full speed. She ran toward a nearby homestead, crying that her bag had “turned into a lizard,” sending shockwaves through the small settlement.
“I didn’t know her,” said Sehlule Mpofu, who lives nearby. “She said she had been waiting for a lift and when she stooped to pick up her bag, it was now a lizard. I followed her to the road and saw the lizard sitting there. The sight of it made my heart stop. I could not help her because I was afraid.”
Mpofu said the woman soon left the area, walking toward Gwanda, while villagers rushed to see the mysterious creature. Within minutes, a large crowd had gathered around the uxamu, which sat under a tree, motionless but alert, as if guarding something unseen.
“I didn’t see the bag change, but I saw the lizard,” said Lindsay Dube. “People said it was once a handbag. The woman looked disturbed and just kept walking away. This kind of thing only happens in strange stories, not real life. I have lived here for years, and I have never seen anything like it.”
“There was a bag, suddenly it was not there and there was a lizard instead. Do the math. It’s obvious the bag turned into the lizard,” said a vendor.
Others, like Ukelia Sibanda, were convinced that witchcraft was involved. “It may sound crazy, but we have seen many unexplainable things. This could be one of them,” she said. “Sometimes these things are done through dark rituals or curses. Maybe someone bewitched the bag or the woman herself.”
The lizard reportedly remained at the scene for over three hours, drawing curious villagers who came from as far as the nearby growth point to witness the spectacle. Some prayed and made signs of the cross, others whispered that it was a sign of bad luck while others “spoke in tongues” to “banish the evil.” When the creature finally slithered away into the bush, the crowd dispersed in uneasy silence.
A Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority officer who happened to pass by advised residents not to harm the reptile, reminding them that killing wild animals is illegal.
For many in West Nicholson, it was a day that felt like a live episode of Ripley’s Believe It or Not unfolding in their own backyard. A handbag that became a lizard? Strange but true, swear the witnesses.
