Ngozi fathers 3 kids?

Tendai Gukutikwa
Weekender Reporter
A MUTASA man, Timothy Timburwa, has petitioned Chief Mutasa’s community court, raising doubts over the spiritual paternity of his three children.
Timburwa, who appeared before the court last Saturday, acknowledged biological responsibility for the children, but questioned their spiritual identity, citing his ex wife’s alleged ties to an avenging spirit.
He attributed his family’s misfortunes – including marital discord and the children’s recurring illnesses – to spiritual forces.
Traditional healers he consulted reportedly linked the troubles to the children’s spiritual lineage.
In his testimony, Timburwa said his former wife’s childhood and family background had long fuelled his suspicions.
“I was experiencing problems with my wife, so I called her brother, Gift Mawacha, to join me in consulting healers. The healer said my wife was an avenging spirit’s wife, with a tendency of snatching other women’s husbands,” he said.
Timburwa claimed the healer offered little resolution, insisting the family already knew of the issue, but that paternal figures were refusing to acknowledge it.
He further alleged that the spiritual entanglement manifested physically in their household. According to Timburwa, his wife later brought charms and salt from her parents’ home, after which the children began suffering from mysterious ailments.
“My son suffered from blurred vision. My daughter was acting as if she was epileptic. That is why I ended up sending my wife back to her parents’ home because she collected those charms even after a prophet had told us not to touch any charms,” he told the court.
Timburwa said his wife’s relatives had worsened the situation by suggesting that the children no longer belonged to him.
“These in-laws have also told me that my three children, with my ex-wife are not mine, but theirs because I have not finished paying her bride price. I want them to tell my children that they are their new fathers so that if they face any challenges, they can confront them and not me,” he said.
However, Gift Mawacha rejected almost every element of Timburwa’s story, accusing him of twisting events.
Mawacha said their dispute stemmed from longstanding marital problems, including allegations of infidelity, and was not linked to any avenging spirit.
“He only paid US$20 as bride price for my sister. I have 11 brothers-in-law and the rest are good. They have done well with my sisters,” said Mawacha.
He added that Timburwa once publicly threatened their family.
“When he approached us, he said my sister was being promiscuous. He posted on his WhatsApp status a video where he recorded himself saying he wanted to kill us. He said he would use an assassin to wipe the entire Mawacha family because we had married him off to our ‘prostitute’. The video went viral,” he said.
Mawacha said in 2016, Timburwa approached the family saying he wanted to consult healers about his wife’s alleged infidelity, claiming it might be spiritual.
He said his sister had confirmed she had struggled with promiscuity.
“At the traditional healer, our sister confirmed that she was promiscuous and that she was constantly finding lovers despite being married. There was nothing of this avenging spirit that he is talking about. The matter is of my sister’s promiscuity, which we all know,” he said.
He said the accusations intensified over time.
“In 2025, he came again and started saying that his wife is a witch on top of being promiscuous. He brought her things to our home in Chimanimani.
He said she was promiscuous and had caught her red-handed on numerous occasion. He had asked her to visit the New Start Centre for HIV testing, but she refused. He paid a dollar as a divorce token. We never said these children are not his. We only asked him to finish paying the bride price. We took our daughter and agreed that she is promiscuous,” said Mawacha.
As the accusations and counter-accusations intensified, Chief Mutasa intervened, asking Timburwa directly whether he sought DNA tests for the three children.
Timburwa insisted that the issue was not biological.
“What I am in doubt of is the spiritual DNA. It was confirmed that my wife was married to an avenging spirit, and so our culture and tradition state that the children that a woman who was used to appease an avenging spirit belong to the spirit and not the husband. I fear that these children could no longer be mine, but belong to that spirit,” he said.
He did not dispute fathering the children physically, but insisted that spiritually, they may have been claimed elsewhere.
The court reminded Timburwa that he had already paid a divorce token and therefore should stop referring to his former wife as his spouse.
Chief Mutasa ordered the families to consult a traditional healer to determine whether the children were spiritually his, hers, or belonged to the alleged avenging spirit.