adminWITH the cutting of the umbilical cord, physical attachment to our mothers ends and emotional and psychological attachment begins.
While the first attachment provides everything we need to thrive inside the womb, many psychologists believe the second attachment provides the psychological foundation and maybe even the social and physical buffer we need to thrive in the world.
However, such is not the case with a “cursed” family in Gokwe where three children have turned against their mother accusing her of bewitching them and possessing a clan of petrifying goblins that has turned their lives into a living hell.
The three children Esenia, Mercy and Deredzai Magama of Mateta 1 under Chief Mukoka in Gokwe South accuse their mother, Angeline Magama, of possessing goblins that have caused untold suffering in the family including death, mental illness and sexual abuse.
According to Mercy, she has gone for four years breastfeeding because milk kept on coming out from her breasts even after weaning her child.
Narrating her touching ordeal, Mercy said she has endured four years of breastfeeding and had employed all methods to stop the milk, including engaging traditional healers and prophets but to no avail.
She said she is now suffering from excessive dehydration.
“My sex life has been ruined because of this problem. When we engaged prophets they told us that the problem was coming from our mother and brother Ocean.
“Many prophets concurred that my brother and mother have goblins and we are being used as their wives. Each time we visit these prophets we start speaking in alien languages while exhibiting sexual moves as if having sex with a man,” she said.
Mercy added that this quagmire has also ruined her marriage.
Her younger sister, Sarah, died last year when she committed suicide by hanging soon after giving birth at a nearby bush in their rural home, while the eldest, Fungai, also committed suicide under mysterious circumstances.
Her father is mentally challenged while her late sister’s daughter is haunted by dead people such that each time she dreams of them while sleeping, she wakes up outside the house with mud and blood stains and bruises. When Sunday News saw him, Mercy’s father was walking around the yard.
Life for the family is now a nightmare.
According to Mercy, she last had a peaceful sleep when she was a teenager. The problem has been persisting for close to 16 years.
“All this started in 1999 when my brother went to an unknown traditional doctor where he was given a head of a baboon so that he could amass wealth by enhancing yields when farming. Initially we all thought it was a noble idea but we later realised that there were some repercussions to it. Our father started having mental problems after he was given food by Ocean’s wife.
“At the same time we started having weird dreams where we will be having sex with human-like creatures the size of a monkey. This went on and on until we decided to engage self-styled prophets where it was revealed that my mother and brother had goblins and those were the sources of all the weird things that were happening to us,” said Mercy.
Following these accusations, the three sisters have been disowned by their mother who has allegedly threatened them with death.
Mercy’s sister, Esenia, said her mother vowed that she wanted to bewitch her so that she would die before the end of this year.
“I am having sleepless nights because of these threats. My husband has since left me because of these problems in our family. I am being sexually abused by goblins that are said to belong to my mother. I once stumbled upon a head of a baboon in my brother’s house while cleaning under his bed,” said Esenia.
Desperate to get assistance, the three siblings have since approached Chief Njelele after Chief Mukoka failed to reprimand their mother and brother.
When the Sunday News visited the family, they had gone to Chief Njelele’s homestead where they sought assistance and pleaded for land so they could find sanctuary since they have been given an embargo by their mother.
Chief Njelele confirmed that he had been approached by the family seeking assistance.
Sunday News had a torrid time seeking audience from the mother who was evasive. However, our news crew finally got her side of the story after strong persuasion.
She vehemently refuted the allegations saying her children were tarnishing her image in the society by calling her a witch.
Angeline said she was in the process of getting a peace order from the police following her children’s verbal abuse and didn’t want them to come to her homestead ever again.
She, however, admitted that her son, Ocean, was keeping a head of a baboon but said it was for other purposes, not harming her children.
“That head of a baboon they are talking about my son got it from my brother and was meant to keep our livestock safe. I do not have goblins and these girls divorced their husbands because they wanted to stay at Gokwe Centre vakanakidzwa ne dhorobheni (they are obsessed with town life),” she said.
A traditional healer, Ambuya Judith Garawega, said the family is cursed and bedevilled by evil spirits. She said the homestead needs cleansing.
“Kazhinji mamhepo aya anoda kubviswa (they are evil spirits and they must be cast away),” she said.
Gweru Provincial Hospital medical superintendent Dr Fabian Mashingaidze said Mercy needed to be examined by a medical expert.
“Milk is not the only pathology that comes out of a woman’s breasts. It could be something else. She needs to visit the hospital,” he said.
Online Reporter