The ManicaPost
Tanyaradzwa Mujati
Weekender Reporter
A CHIMANIMANI man is holding on to his late father’s things despite strong objections from his sisters who want them destroyed as they are allegedly bringing misfortunes to the family.
The siblings have since dragged each other to Mutare Civil Court and Chief Mutambara’s Community Court over the issue.
Esnat Mudadi and Rudo Kaibona dragged their brother Joseph Gosho to Chief Mutambara’s court and as a counter measure, the latter applied for a protection order against his siblings at Mutare Civil Court.
The feuding parties recently appeared before Mutare magistrate, Ms Ivy Musavengana.
Testifying before the court, Mudadi said Gosho is their father figure, adding that it is his responsibility to seek spiritual guidance for the family.
She said Gosho has been hesitant in supporting their quest to have their late father’s paraphernalia destroyed.
Mudadi also said Gosho is threatening to kill those dragging him to Chief Mutambara’s court.
“Our late father and uncles possessed goblins and wizardly paraphernalia. These were passed to our brothers. However, my brother, as the surviving patriach of the family, is now in possession of the goblins and paraphernalia.
“He is refusing to surrender them but these things are causing marital problems, sickness and misfortunes in the family,” said Mudadi.
She added: “On September 6, Chief Mutambara ordered our brother to bring the paraphernalia to his court, but he did not show up. We tried to contact him but his phone was switched off and he was not at home. He doesn’t want to get rid of these things, yet they are inflicting untold pain on us.
“My daughter is manifesting saying our fore-fathers killed a freedom fighter during the liberation struggle. The man is from Espungabera in Mozambique. That spirit needs appeasement and we once made arrangements to consult the man’s family, but we failed to locate them,” she said.
Mudadi said they are not welcome to visit their brother’s homestead.
However, Gosho said he has tried to solve the family’s problems, all to no avail.He pleaded with the court to bar his sisters from visiting his house and dragging him to Chief Mutambara’s court.
“I am not refusing to co-operate with my siblings but they are taking us on a wild goose chase. We travelled to Mozambique to locate the family of the man they claim was murdered by our late fathers. They faked spiritual possession and the spirit of the man who was allegedly slain could not lead us to his relatives. If it was indeed an avenging spirit, why did we not find the alleged victim’s family? I am done with their lies,” charged Gosho.
He added: “Recently, they dragged me to a spiritual healer in Vumba and Rudo’s daughter started manifesting and claiming that she is possessed by my late mother’s spirit.
“Her child claimed that my mother wants appeasement of five cattle as we did not look after her when she was sick. We are not related to this girl by blood, how then did my mother’s spirit posses her? This is totally absurd. These are cooked up stories to exploit me. I lost all my wealth because of these endless lies,” he said.
Ms Musavengana granted the protection order in Gosho’s favour.
However, Ms Musavengana said the court cannot bar the respondents from dragging Gosho to the traditional court.
