A WITCH hunter believed to come from Chiwundura communal area in the Midlands Province widely known as Sekuru Tsika Mutanda is causing chaos in the Insiza District of Matabeleland South by conducting a series of controversial witch-hunts which have ravaged the area.
Villagers in the area told the Zimbabwe Guardian that the gruesome witch hunts started last week after the man was allegedly invited by the local traditional leadership to cleanse the area following a series of “mysterious deaths” and theft of household property.
Villagers who witnessed the witch hunting sessions said accused persons who were apparently denied the opportunity or right to defend themselves went through hell and humiliation.
“All the villagers in the area were called to a gathering point and formed a long queue while a register was called to nab those who had slipped the smell out,” said Thomas Moyo, one of the villagers who witnessed the incident.
Moyo told the Zimbabwe Guardian of an incident where one of the convicted villagers, one Lewis Zulu was allegedly cut with a razor blade (nyora) on his forehead by the hunter’s overzealous assistants after he was accused of stealing livestock in the area.
Moyo said during the hunting sessions, implicated villagers are also forced to publicly admit their ‘crimes‘ by raising their hands and appealing to the community for mercy and forgiveness.
There are fears that some of the ‘convicted‘ villagers may contract the deadly HIV/AIDS virus as the witch hunters use un-sterilized razor blades.
Terrified by the operation, some families have reportedly fled to places as far as Gwanda and Bulawayo while some have found sanctuary in nearby bushes.
Efforts to get a comment from the witch hunter or the headman of the area were all in vain at the time of writing this story.
Another witch hunter last year also caused a stir and left families divided in lower Gweru by conducting similar controversial witch hunts.
