Woman gives birth to frog

By Freedom Mupanedemo

In an incident that has left tongues wagging in Chief Njelele’s area in Gokwe, a 36-year-old woman gave birth to a frog-like creature after she suddenly went into labour at home.

The lady who was eight months pregnant passed out soon after giving birth to the scary thing.

Her husband took her to Gokwe District Hospital, where the creature later died.

But the broken couple of Mr Nomore (39) and Mrs Precious Nyathi (36) which was expecting their first child together kept the frog in their bedroom for some days before villagers tipped the local traditional leader who ordered that it be burnt before a stunned crowd.

The incident which is now the talk of Gokwe occurred last Thursday at Sidojiwe Village under Chief Njelele.

An official at Gokwe District Hospital said Mrs Nyathi was registered with the hospital as an expectant mother and was supposed to deliver by the end of this month.

“She was our patient who would come for routine reviews together with other pregnant women. We were shocked when she visited the hospital in the company of her husband and some neighbours saying she had delivered a frog,” said the official.

The official who cannot be named for professional reasons said they only gave Mrs Nyathi painkillers before they discharged her.

“She only had some blood stains which suggested that she could have been in labour but everything on her was normal,” said the official.

Meanwhile, a news crew visited Chief Njelele’s homestead yesterday where the distraught couple brought the alleged frog before a shaken crowd that had gathered to see it.

A self proclaimed prophet in the community took it upon himself to burn the creature which had shrivelled and dried up. He alleged that a jealous neighbour had bewitched the couple.

In an interview, Mr Nyathi said they have been holding on to their ‘child’ because they were still confused and did not know what to do with it.

“We were all confused following this hellish experience and until today I don’t have peace of mind. We were expecting a child and this is what the heavens gave us. I had to keep it in my home waiting for advice from the village elders as well as our local chief,” Mr Nyathi sobbed.

He said he received a phone call from a neighbour informing him his wife had suddenly gone into labour but had given birth to ‘a strange thing.’

“I rushed home and was shocked to see a frog. The elderly women I found gathered at my homestead said it was what my wife had just delivered. She was still writhing in pain and we had to take her to the hospital in a scotch cart. At the hospital they confirmed that she went into labour but they were equally shocked that the result of her labour pain was a frog,” said Mr Nyathi.

Mrs Nyathi said she was still in a state of shock and the experience will haunt her for the whole of her life.

“It’s a hellish experience which will haunt me all my life. I don’t know how our traditional leader will help us on this one because the hospital authorities could not give us any explanation to this,” said Mrs Nyathi who has two children from a previous marriage.

Chief Njelele said there were many weird things that occur in Gokwe but a woman giving birth to a frog was stranger.

“It’s stranger than fiction. I had to call hospital authorities and they indeed confirmed that she was one of their pregnant patients who regularly visited the hospital for reviews but they could not explain what happened to her pregnancy,”he said. Chronicle