Ray Bande
Senior Reporter
A Penhalonga-based pastor who is embroiled in a nasty occultism storm in which she stands accused of erecting a ritual grave at her homestead and naming her pigs after targeted close family members did not show up at Chief Zimunya’s court when the matter was heard recently.
Close relatives of Reverend Lillian Mufute who accuse her of performing some rituals that have led to deaths in the family, have since approached Chief Zimunya’s court for intervention and went ahead to petition the church leadership to reign in their colleague.
In their petition, which this newspaper is in possession of, the relatives allege that Pastor Mufute keeps some pigs at her rural homestead, some of which are named after targeted close relatives.
The matter appeared before Chief Zimunya’s court recently but the woman of the cloth did not present herself.
Instead, her alleged allies in the occultism storm – her son Liberty Mufute and her brother-in-law Josphat Mufute showed up.
Pastor Mufute’s brother-in-law, Josphat Mufute
The family was instructed to get the assistance of a spiritualist recognised by the traditional court and return to the court with details for the spiritualist in order for the court to deliver its judgment.
In their petition to the church’s leadership, Pastor Mufute’s close relatives alleged that her son Liberty Mufute and the only surviving male member of her late husbands’ family, Josphat Mufute, perpetrated occultism acts targeted at perceived enemies within the family.
The petition further points out that Pastor Mufute keeps some pigs at her rural homestead some of which are named after targeted close relatives.
They cited a case in point in which one of the pigs at Reverend Mufute’s homestead was named Peter, ostensibly named after the late Peter Mufute.
According to the petition, a day before Peter Mufute died, Liberty and Josphat were heard saying they were going to the rural areas to slaughter their pig Peter.
Following Peter’s death, Josphat’s family did not attend the funeral, despite the fact that the deceased was Josphat’s blood brother.