MUTARE – A barber has sent tongues wagging in Mutare’s Dangamvura high-density suburb after he professed having used juju to punish a late colleague who had stolen $6 from him.
A composed Columbus Zindoga (36), who works as a barber at a makeshift hair salon in the suburb’s Area 3 section opposite Dangamvura Complex, showed no remorse throughout an interview with The Weekender this week as he admitted having used paranormal means to regain his stolen $6, which later resulted in the death of Rockford Tsuro, a fellow barber at the salon.
The issue has suddenly become the talk of the neighbourhood with Zindonga reportedly bragging, even to clients, about his abilities to deal ruthlessly with those who dare cross his path.
Apparently, Zindoga, a certified member of the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association, admitted having demanded $10 to ‘consult the spirits’ as well as a beast to appease them for Tsuro’s wrongdoing after the latter’s condition deteriorated while in hospital.
“On Tuesday, I left $15 on top of an amplifier in my salon when I went home after work. When I came back the next day (Wednesday), I only found $9 instead of the $15 I left the day before.
“I asked my son about the whereabouts of my money because normally my five-year-old son comes here to clean up the room every morning and he did the same on Wednesday. He professed ignorance, but told me that Rockford and Stavo (a fellow barber) were the only ones who had entered the salon that day.
“I asked everyone around and informed them that if I do not get my $6 in time I would use other means to recover my money. Ndakavataurira kuti ndikashaya mari yangu ndichaitawo zvandinoita. I was sick and tired of missing my items in the shop after having lost my phone in the same manner.
“Whether they took it for an empty threat, I do not know. Roki, as Rockford was referred to, and then went on to buy two packs of opaque beer. People around asked him where he had found the money to buy beer early in the day. He responded by saying he had picked $5 on his way to work.
“Later in the afternoon, I heard him (Roki) complaining about getting weary. He was saying his hand had suddenly become heavy. He was advised to go home and have sadza. But I was later informed that he had been taken to hospital. His first wife came to me with $10 intending to have me reverse the whole thing. I told her that it can only be possible when the victim is accepting and speaking for himself that he is the one who stole my money.
“Together with fellow salon workers who operate at this place, the wife and brothers tried to convince me that he is suffering because of the $6 Roki stole from me, but I told them that Roki was the only person who can come and confess for himself.
“Unfortunately they wasted time doing things that could not help Roki, thereby leading to his death. They should have come with him to me while he was still talking and let him confess to having stolen my money so that he could have been saved,” he said.
In a separate interview, a visibly shaken Steven Doro, a friend to the deceased and fellow barber at the salon, said he was convinced Tsuro died as a result of Zindoga’s reactions to the missing money.
“It was so painful. When we visited him at the hospital, he was in severe pain. He was complaining that he was holding something which he had been given by someone he could no longer see. At that time he appeared to have suffered a stroke. It was all superstitious and inexplicable.
“Unfortunately, Tsuro could not come and confess for himself that he had stolen the money since he was no longer able to talk at that time. Although he (Zindoga) gave us a concoction to administer to Tsuro so that he could be able to talk when he was in hospital and be able to confess that he stole the money, it failed to work. He died an angry person and that explains why we had a torrid time to dig his grave. It appeared as if he was resisting our efforts to lay him to rest,” he said.
A hairdresser at the salon, Catharine Makhuyana, said Tsuro went through a difficult, painful time just before his death.
“When he was taken to hospital, his two wives were actually struggling to feed him, with one of them holding the mouth, while the other poured a soft drink so that he could have something in the tummy. We were so scared about the whole thing. We just didn’t understand why someone would go to such lengths, killing someone over $6. We tried to knock sense into his (Zindoga) head, but he remained adamant,” she said.
When The Weekender crew visited the salon, Zindoga’s close relatives as well as his wives had not yet returned to Mutare from Sanyati where Tsuro was buried.
Contacted for comment, former Zinatha national secretary, Alex Mashoko, said Zindoga erred in not affording the deceased fellow a chance to confess and pay reparations for his wrongdoings.
“As traditional healers, we do not condone that. Zindoga should have made the person who stole his money suffer, but never let it result into death given the background that the deceased was willing to confess and pay reparations. I would advise Zindoga’s relatives to approach Zinatha and lodge a complaint or approach traditional leaders’ courts.
“We all know that it is bad to steal and thieves must be made to suffer for their actions, but not to the extent of killing someone especially when they are accepting their wrongdoings,” said Mashoko.
However, Mutare legal practitioner, Mr Passmore Nyakureba, said although the law now recognises the presence of witchcraft, it needs legislative clarity on incidents where harm caused by witchcraft related acts results in death.
“The position at law is that where a person engages in practices commonly associated with witchcraft and that person if found guilty can be sentenced to a Level 10 fine which is about $1 000 or imprisonment for five years, or both such a fine and imprisonment. This is in terms of Section 98 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act.
“The requirements of such an offence are that the person so engaging in such an offence will have caused harm to the victim or that the person against whom such practices are done has a fear that harm will be caused to him or any member of his family.
“However, the words used in the statute such as Section 98 are peremptory. It talks of harm and not death of a person. Issues to do with death of a person are dealt with under Section 47 of the Criminal Law Code as far as murder is concerned and Section 49 as far as culpable homicide is concerned. That’s where death arises, the relevant law is one of homicide not witchcraft.
“To me though it remains illogical that the law punishes practice of witchcraft and yet does not provide for punishment where death arises from the practice related to witchcraft, it remains an area which the legislative authority needs to revisit and clarify on.
“This does not however takeaway from the legislative authority the credit of recognising and punishing witchcraft as opposed to the old Witchcraft Suppression Act,” he said. Manica Post
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