Chronicle EditorJohnsias Mutonhori, Midlands Correspondent
A prominent Gweru based traditional healer Jestina Moyo popularly known as Gogo MaMoyo lost her traditional healing paraphernalia and property in a fire that gutted her room in the wee hours of last Thursday.
The fire is suspected to have been started by children from her neighbourhood who were allegedly smoking out a snake that had entered their room with a burning trye. Clothes, kitchenware and a wardrobe were reduced to ashes. Gogo MaMoyo is a known traditional healer who lives alone at Zimuto Street in Gweru’s old suburb of Mtapa. A neighbour Ms Prisca Chari told the Sunday News that she heard screams of children in the room next to Gogo MaMoyo’s, shouting about a snake having invaded their room.
“At around 10pm I heard children screaming about a snake and I went out and asked them to come and sleep at my place because their parents were not around. They refused and I left them burning tyres trying to suffocate the snake. The following morning at around 5am we heard noise about the fire and when I peeped through the window, I saw a cloud of smoke enveloping Gogo MaMoyo’s room,” she said.
Ms Chari said she went out and joined other people from the neighbourhood who were already battling to put out the fire before the Fire Brigade crew arrived. Another neighbour Mr Pressure Maturure who also attended the scene said Gogo is a famous traditional healer who was staying alone since she lost her husband mysteriously about five years ago.
“Gogo is a well-known traditional healer and that is how she makes a living. She lost her husband about five years ago and she has been alone since that time,” he said.
When a Sunday News crew visited the place, the fire had already been put out while a comment could not be sought from Gogo MaMoyo who was weeping uncontrollably. The Fire Brigade could also not be reached for comment to give the exact cause of the fire.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter