The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure: Senior Reporter
TSIKAMUTANDAS operating in the Nyamajura of Mutare district are using rehearsed theatrics to rip-off gullible families – a feat that has seen them smiling all their way to the abattoir with pedigree cattle breeds.At a time when the body condition of most cattle in the Nyamajura area has deteriorated due to acute shortage of water and grazing pastures, the tsikamutandas are going for the best breeds and are cashing in on them at the open market.
The Manica Post last week came face-to-face with the parasitic side of the self-claimed exorcists as hired herd-boys drove a healthy herd from the Nyamajura to an abattoir at Odzi. The tsikamutandas are traversing villages 9, 10, 11, 12 and 16 in Nyamajura where apart from womanising and consuming whisky and other mind altering liquids, they are employing deceitful ways to steal villagers’ livestock and other valuables under the guise of cleansing homes and individuals they accused of practising witchcraft.
The law criminalises accusing anyone of practicing witchcraft. The police are not helping matters as they issue the crooks with clearance certificates, and this has left many families worse off and without dependable draught power ahead of the rainy season.
Nyamajura is an old resettlement area that is famous for the cultivation of the livestock labour intensive tobacco crop.
“The cattle belong to tsikamutandas, and we are taking them to the abattoir at Odzi.
Sekuru does not force people to pay him with cattle, this is why you find police issuing him with these legal documents,” said one of the herd boys, who refused to be named, driving 14 pedigree beasts along the Makoni-Odzi Road.
While only a privileged few in Nyamajura have the means, the majority, who often depended on rain fed crop production as part of their livelihoods, need to wake up from the slumber and resist tsikamutandas’ rehearsed theatrics as they cannot win the war against climate change and the resultant successive droughts.
Nyamajura climatologically, has regressed a lot and is now characterised by low and highly variable rainfall that makes it unsuitable for crop production. The effects are to a much higher degree than in the past, such that farmers need to jealously guard and pursue livestock farming seriously to get a positive impact on their lives.
“Apart from cattle, they demand goats, sheep, chickens, guinea fowls and turkeys, which they often slaughter to entice and lure local people to their shrine.
This is why you find a lot of people at their shrine,” said village head Mr Tofirei Chitiga.
The impact of livestock is cross-cutting as it contributes indirectly to food security by increasing crop output and income from livestock and their many products – milk, eggs, meat, wool, leather – can allow poor families to put food on the table, improve their nutrition, send their children to school and buy medicine for themselves and their animals.
“Why do you criticise them yet they are helping the people.
It is not fair, Sekuru Garwe has done great wonders in this area, and he is being appreciated through livestock,” said Mr Chitiga.
The tricksters first establish relationships with the local leadership who then convince villagers that they (tsikamutandas) could solve their social and economic problems. When granted the nod to operate in the area, the tsikamutandas force villagers to undergo a number of traditional cleansing ceremonies and consultations with alleged ancestors.
After undergoing the rituals in which the alleged ancestor then speaks to the victim from behind a curtain in a room, one is often implicated in witchcraft, ngozi, possessing goblins among other social ills warranting the identification of a fall guy.
The suspected witch, wizard or wrongdoer and the one whose homestead would have been cleansed are then asked to pay for the services, usually in the form of livestock and cash.
They “uncover” voodoo dolls and horns with beads among other paraphernalia associated with sorcery, which they claim are used by women to eat their children, men to bewitch their neighbours and to cast spells on their neighbours.
