ILLAGERS in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province were left in shock after a traditionalist recovered a live baboon under the bed of a villager during a cleansing ceremony.
This ceremony was conducted in Ntulane village as a way to unveil the causes of the ailment that was affecting the pupils causing them to have a knee handicap.
In an interview, Maina Ndlovu (64) said she was still shocked by the incident as she had no idea where the animal emerged from.
“It was during a cleansing ceremony when the traditionalist, Nqobizitha Moyo told me that there was a creature under my bed that l came with from my previous marriage. I denied the allegation and we then proceeded to my homestead.
“Upon arrival, the traditionalist then poured some salt as a way to cleanse the yard to start the rituals and we then went inside my bedroom hut.
“Moyo then lifted all the property as he was led by the spirit to my bed, he lifted it and removed a baboon from a hole,” said Ndlovu. Ndlovu said she was still stunned by the incident as she had no clue on its existence.
“There has always been a hole under my bed but l was not aware that it could accommodate anything as big as a baboon. The animal was then killed and burnt together with some vases that were found in my house.
“Although the incident is a shocker, l am happy that l can safely sleep because in the past, I always heard some scary movements on my roof and l always suspected that these were owls, but after the cleansing ceremony l have been at peace,” said Ndlovu.
The headman of Ntulane village, Vincent Hadebe said the cleansing ceremonies were met with some great resistance from a number of villagers.
“We have a problem with community members who say that when we remove these things from these houses they assume that they are fake and made from rubber.
“They believe that this is magic and we invited the chief and other elders to witness one of the cleansing ceremonies and they witnessed this with their own eyes. The baboon removed from one of the homes was slaughtered and they saw the blood and the intestines,” said Hadebe.
Hadebe said a number of villagers had sought some peace orders to ensure their houses were not searched, defeating the purpose of dealing with the community problems.
“We sat down with the community members and requested that we find a solution to this problem that was affecting children and to also cleanse our community.
“The community members agreed but when they started seeing that there were things that were being recovered from homesteads like monkeys, baboons, heads of animals and strange cloths they started running to the police to seek peace orders claiming that we were invading their privacy,” said Hadebe.
The headman expressed his sadness on the condition of the children whose lives have been permanently affected by the effects of the goblins.
“The children’s future has already been destroyed because of the effects of these goblins. One of the children has been left with a permanent handicap and this was caused by these goblins who are suspected to have been sleeping with the pupils.
“We want a solution to this problem and these animals were slaughtered in the presence of everyone and the chief so that people will not hide such evil things,” said Hadebe.
