In a bizarre situation that may force Chief Njelele to call for another traditional Indaba to look into a witchcraft quagmire that has rocked his homeland of Gokwe, a man in his late 60s demanded the life of a snake which was killed by Nyaradza township residents in the agro-town last week.
The snake which was causing unrest for the residents of the mentioned suburb, was entering houses of the residents and eating their foodstuffs at night. According to Ms Sibongile Gwabe, “the snake would open basins and feed itself from our left over meals. I saw the reptile with my own eyes eating from our dish at midnight while sitting on its tail, and I was at a loss of words,” she said shaking her head.
The neighbours organised and set a trap for the troublesome reptile and surrounded it, after they sprayed paraffin on all possible ways out. The residents then hit the snake with logs before taking it outside for view by the anxious crowd, who have estimated it to be close to two metres long.
Gwabe alerted her neighbours who thronged the place in droves as they also had seen the reptile in their houses before. The fellow citizen then teamed up and killed it before burning the reptile in paraffin and plastic papers fire.
“The snake started rising in the flame, (somewhat) threatening to free itself, but we were prepared to deal with it severely, because we wanted to have peace,” said another resident who identified herself as Mai Rudo.
As if it was not enough, in the early hours of the morrow day, an old man of about 68 years visited all the neighbours who gathered to kill the reptile and threatened with death if they don’t bring life to the snake they killed the previous night.
Nyaradza Township is a middle suburb in Gokwe town, with a population of a little over 3000 people. They reported the man to their residents’ chairperson, who alerted the police. The Gokwe Police referred the issue to Chief Njelele, as they said it was was more to do with cultural repercussions, carrying no criminal element in it.
Asked to comment, Chief Misheck Njelele blamed all witchcraft issues in his area on gluttony and egocentricity. “I will have to meet with my colleagues this time to clear off all evil doers from Gokwe. We have been tarnished enough and we have had enough of these issues,” he said angrily.
Last time an owl picked a male matured dog in broad day light during a traditional meeting that was called by chief Njelele to deal with witchcraft issues, and he had to call for an urgent meeting concerning the issue.
Gokwe has in recent years been awash with witchcraft scandals that left property investors with numerous questions on whether to build or not.