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B-Metro Reporter
The man at the centre of a story of a monitor lizard that was discovered in Old Magwegwe last month has dismissed suspicions of witchcraft that some residents linked to the animal and added that strange marks in their area were caused by a disabled stray cat.
Danisa Maphosa (not Mpofu as previously reported),and who is also known as Ndlovu, narrated his story to B-Metro saying he wanted to correct a growing perception in his neighbourhood that he dabbled in witchcraft.
Residents were of the belief that the animal had been living in the suburb and associated the lizard with witchcraft though some mentioned that the man had picked the animal from a nearby road as part of his art projects.
“I am a builder and I am also an artist and I picked that animal near Halsteds in Belmont after it was hit by a car. I needed some time to study it so that I could then make a sculpture. I actually asked for it because there was another guy who wanted it saying the fat was a cure for ear aches,” said Maphosa.
He said he explained himself at the emergency meeting that was called by residents following the discovery of the animal dumped near Marisha Bar. He maintained that truck drivers that park by the Halsteds gate could vouch for him that he picked the dead animal there and asked for a card board box from the shop before stuffing it in and boarding a commuter omnibus to Magwegwe.
He said upon arrival, since he had gone to pick up some groceries sent by a relative from South Africa at a shop near Halsteds, he left the card board box outside the house and carried the tshangani bag with the groceries into the house. He says his wife became suspicious of the box thinking he had hidden some of the grocery items and opened it before he could explain. She was so startled by her discovery that he then decided to dispose of the animal since it made his family uncomfortable.
He said he was then seen the following day pushing a wheelbarrow with the animal in the box towards a refuse dump, leading to word spreading that he was disposing of an animal from his house. He said this was after he tried to give the animal to a traditional healer whom he thought could have use for it. However, the traditionalist told B-Metro last month that the man wanted to sell it to him.
“I am really hurt that the community now views me as a wizard. If the monitor lizard was found with beads I would probably have understood their suspicions of witchcraft. Even that warthog that was found in the suburb earlier in the year was not a strange thing because we are close to Pumula and there is a bushy area there with animals,” said Maphosa.
He said this had affected his relations with his clients since he is a builder.
“I also do art. I can draw and sculpt a range of things from fish eagle, a person and elephant among others. I usually draw or sculpt from pictures but with the monitor lizard, it resembled a crocodile, so I wanted to study it closely and then sculpt,” he said.
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