A chilling tale of alleged witchcraft, family discord, and a man’s descent into mental instability has unfolded in the notorious Chigodora village, east of Mutare in Manicaland province.
At the heart of the controversy is Clement Zikiti, who claims to have witnessed his own mother and aunt performing bizarre witchcraft rituals, stark naked, at his homestead.
Zikiti’s harrowing account was brought before Headman Chigodora’s community court last Saturday, where he detailed the events that have left him deeply disturbed and his family in turmoil.
“I was shocked, and did not know what to do when I saw my mother and aunt stark naked, and busy with their nocturnal witchcraft rituals at my homestead,” Zikiti recounted.
“I retreated inside the house, and decided to inform my uncle, Aleck Chimbadzwa, who stays nearby. Aleck is my mother’s brother and Bingadade’s husband. However, I got lost for about an hour, and arrived at his homestead around 2am, despite it being barely 100 metres away (chadzimira).”
Zikiti alleged that he found his aunt, Shorai Bingadade, dressed and pretending to be asleep when he arrived at his uncle’s homestead.
“She was the one who responded to my knock on the door. No one believed me initially. They only started believing me after I became mentally unstable. That is when they started taking my claims seriously, because the next morning, I had a mental blackout, and only got better yesterday (last Friday) after being taken to a traditional healer,” he said, while visibly shivering.
Zikiti’s uncle, Aleck Bingadade, confirmed his nephew’s mental breakdown, stating that Zikiti became erratic and abandoned his homestead the following morning.
“Initially I did not believe him because my wife was right by my side when he knocked on the door. In fact, it was my wife who heard him walking outside and woke me up,” he said.
The family’s scepticism turned to concern as Zikiti’s mental condition worsened. “We had to restrain him as he started picking food from the bins,” Aleck said.
Adding to the family’s distress, Aleck’s son, Leon, expressed his deep fear that Zikiti’s mental state could deteriorate further, mirroring the fate of others who claimed to have encountered witches.
“As if I had seen it coming, my cousin’s mental health deteriorated rapidly, and he went missing over a period of time. No one knew where he was staying, but I want this court to know that if it turned out that one or either of these two women are part of witches that are tormenting our family, surely I will kill them and serve time behind bars,” Leon charged.
Leon, who has suffered the heartbreak of seven miscarriages, attributed the tragedies to witchcraft.
“My wife has suffered seven miscarriages due to sorcery, and I will not spare the culprit/s,” he vowed.
Shorai Bingadade, the aunt accused of participating in the naked rituals, vehemently denied the allegations.
“You all heard him in this court saying when he got to my homestead, I was in the house asleep. How could I be in two places at the same time? How could I have rushed back home and opened the door for him?
“I do not have teleportation powers, and all this sounds like a stage-managed thing. I am suspecting that he is not mentally deranged, but is faking it out so that his story can be believable,” she said as she dismissed Zikiti’s claims with a dismissive laugh.
Stella Chimbadzwa, Zikiti’s mother, offered a more ambiguous response. While she could neither confirm nor deny being present at her son’s homestead that night, she suggested that she might have been unknowingly used by witches.
“I only got to know of this matter when my brother, Aleck summoned me to his homestead the following day. It could be that I am being used by witches without my knowledge because I cannot see how my own son could raise such allegations or lie against me as there is no bad blood between us,” she said.
“All I need is help so that the whole family can be saved, and if indeed there is witchcraft at play in the family, it must be eradicated,” Stella added.
Adding fuel to the fire, Rudolf Chimbadzwa, another relative, revealed that Zikiti’s wife had abandoned him due to strange occurrences at the homestead.
“For months she has been begging that they vacate the homestead because she was hearing strange chants and noises at night. Each time she would go out to investigate, she would see these two women, and other women from the community naked. He sided with his mother and refused to leave, forcing his wife to leave as she could no longer stand it,” he said.
