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Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
Witch-hunters, popularly known as tsikamutandas, are wreaking havoc in Makoni by sowing seeds of hatred, suspicion and division amongst villagers in Mudhemudhe and Chirimutsitu.
Gullible rural folk are losing their hard-earned money and livestock as they seek the services of these witch-hunters.
The self-claimed exorcists, often below 40 years of age, spot dreadlocks and use urban lingo to communicate.
In their quest to solve community mysteries, there is always a fall guy; and these tricks have allowed them to amass a fortune at the expense of unsuspecting villagers.
A number of people have lost their livestock and hard-earned cash after being accused of practising witchcraft and using juju to enrich themselves.
To brainwash the villagers, the scammers “uncover” voodoo dolls, snakes, horns with beads, among other paraphernalia associated with sorcery, and accuse their targeted victims of witchcraft.
It is believed that the tsikamutandas would have planted the items in the dead of the night.
Following a story that was recently published in The Manica Post which revealed that a small coffin containing a live snake and a chicken had been discovered by villagers in Chirimutsitu, tsikamutandas descended on the area for a witch-hunting mission.
The village has since been turned into a ‘shrine’ with ground rules that should be strictly adhered to.
Cellphones and cameras are not allowed, unless one has been granted permission to use them. The witch-hunter’s identity is never revealed – possibly to give it a dark underworld flair and give the scammers room to manoeuvre without any legal repercussions.
The victims of the exercise are usually the elderly people who are often accused of witchcraft.
Hordes of youths high on drugs sing, dance and cheer on the tsikamutandas as they fish out the ‘witches’ and ‘wizards’.
Women ululate while men whistle as the tsikamutandas tear apart the communities’ unity.
But not everyone is as gullible as the witch-hunters think.
“These tsikamutandas are the ones who planted that small coffin in the dam it was found floating. It was a decoy to find a way to enter the village and wreak havoc,” said a villager from Chirimutsitu who preferred anonymity for fear of being reprimanded.
“The community is being hoodwinked into paying dearly. The scammers want our money, cattle, goats and chickens. The victims are the elderly. Can you imagine one of the tsikamutandas removed a huge cobra snake from one person’s shirt. Where was that huge snake hiding underneath a shirt?
“Why do they always catch cobras? Is it not because they are not violent and get confused when surrounded by hordes of people? Why don’t they catch black mambas?
“The idea is not to help villagers, but to enrich themselves because their demands are outrageous. This has severely strained relationships at community and family levels,” charged the villager.
Another well-placed source said the witch-hunters besieged several homesteads and removed strange-looking creatures they claimed were behind the mysterious deaths in the respective families.
In a video recording circulating on social media, the tsikamutandas are seen splashing maize-meal on one Sekuru Mukogo as he holds a stick with both hands.
The old man was reportedly married to four wives who have all died mysteriously.
His kitchen hut recently caught fire and efforts to douse the flames with water failed after the family borehole was blocked by a huge stone.
All these developments were used by the tsikamutandas as ammunition to nail the widower.
But Mr Mike Nhunhu described the witch-hunting exercises as day light robbery.
“This once happened in our village and we later realised that we were being fooled. People should stop believing in such things,” he said.
Mr Manuel Kumbulani-Matiza said the practice is illegal, adding that the tsikamutandas must be arrested and thrown behind bars for deceiving people.
“Imagine the embarrassment and misunderstanding this brings to the family and the whole community. The tsikamutandas claim livestock as their payment, yet this is actually the wealth that is jealously guarded by rural folk. The tsikamutandas take advantage of people’s vulnerability to rip them off,” he said.
ZINATHA president, Mr George Kandiero, criticised the tsikamutandas for reaping off unsuspecting villagers.
The operations of tsikamutandas are illegal as they are not licensed by Government to conduct witch-hunting exercises.
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