A Marondera man’s unusual confession has sent ripples through a Manicaland court. Siriro Satande admitted to using a live tortoise as a mubobobo, a witchcraft-related charm used to supernaturally sexually abuse any woman, a revelation that emerged during a hearing before Chief Mutasa.
The shocking details came to light thanks to the testimony of his nephew, Hazvineyi Satande (22), who brought a complex family dispute before the traditional court.
Hazvineyi’s plea for help painted a distressing picture of his family’s plight. He accused several siblings – Siriro, Naboth, Irene, Moses, and Mavis Satande – of witchcraft and of unleashing an evil spirit that has caused mental illness within the family. This illness, he claimed, tragically claimed the lives of their parents and continues to torment him and his brothers, Simbarashe (19) and Justin (29).
“My sisters are mentally ill, causing us to sometimes become violent. Our parents suffered from the same illness and eventually died. One of my sisters was afflicted with this illness in July, before I was affected in August. It’s so severe that when we have an attack, we do inexplicable things, causing the elders in our community to complain. This has led to people in the community tying us to beds,” Hazvineyi testified.
The gravity of his situation was further underscored by his statement that he and his ill sisters rely on charitable donations from neighbours for their survival.
“I look after my ill sisters, and we survive on food donations from kind-hearted people in the community. Some members of the Satande family don’t care about us. Whenever they visit, they expect us to feed them, but they don’t care where we get the food. I know they want us all to die from this mental illness, which is why I came to this court to ask for your help,” he added.
The court heard that Siriro’s confession followed a cleansing ceremony at his home, during which a prophet discovered the live tortoise nestled within his underwear. The unusual charm, it turned out, was not just any tortoise; old coins were reportedly attached to its legs.
Siriro himself confirmed the shocking use of the reptile. “Yes, I used it (mubobobo), and afterwards, I would get satisfaction like anyone who has found a partner. However, after the tortoise was removed from my trousers, the pain I was experiencing in my leg subsided somewhat,” he admitted to the court.
He offered no explanation as to how or when he acquired the charm.
Adding further intrigue to the case, Headman Newengo testified that Siriro had previously complained of persistent leg pain, undergoing three unsuccessful operations. However, villagers had suspected a more sinister cause, whispering of the mubobobo long before the tortoise was discovered.
“We went to a traditional healer who told us that Siriro had a creature living in his trousers, which he used as a charm and pretended that his leg was hurting,” Headman Newengo explained.
“He would limp, pretending to have a painful leg. We heard that he had undergone three leg operations without success. However, it turned out that the pain was connected to the charm. After removing the tortoise, the prophet took it home but told us that he had burned it because it had started harassing the women in his family. Even on the day it was removed from Siriro’s trousers, the tortoise was placed on the ground and it crawled towards where the women were sitting. This didn’t surprise us as we had been told that it would happen because it was used to having sex with women.”
The stark contrast between the suffering endured by Hazvineyi and his siblings and the apparent prosperity enjoyed by other members of the Satande family further fuelled the accusations of neglect and witchcraft. Hazvineyi highlighted this disparity, noting that some family members live comfortably, driving expensive cars, while he and his ill siblings struggle to survive.
Chief Mutasa, visibly moved by Hazvineyi’s harrowing account, demonstrated compassion, offering him US$50 and 50kg of maize. His words of rebuke towards the seemingly unconcerned family members were sharp and direct.
“You know that an evil spirit is troubling your family, but you are doing nothing to help them. How can you live comfortably in your homes while your late brother’s children are suffering physically and spiritually?” Chief Mutasa stated firmly.
The case, however, remains far from over. Chief Mutasa adjourned the proceedings, scheduling a future hearing to summon the absent family members to answer the serious allegations levelled against them.
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