Village head chokes on meat, loses speech

By Hazel Marimbiza

There was drama in Nyamandlovu when a village head fought with some villagers, accusing them of bewitching him after he choked on meat at a funeral and lost his speech for three days.

Richard Dladla, 82, believes the incident occurred as a result of villagers being jealous of his position.

“I do not understand how the meat could have choked me alone because I was eating properly just like every other mourner. It was very painful and the meat could not come out so I had to be quickly ferried to the hospital. This is all a result of being bewitched by some villagers,” said Dladla.

He further revealed that he lost his speech for days and right now his throat still hurts.

“I could not speak for three days even after the meat came out and even now my throat is still painful. It’s just so hard to talk,” said Dladla.

According to sources close to this issue villagers are now scared of Dladla as he continuously fights and insults some of them for “bewitching” him.

“There are villagers he assaults, claiming they caused him to choke on the meat. It really does not make sense to us because that could have been a result of him failing to properly chew or probably he was eating too fast”, said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Dladla has vowed never to eat at funerals.

“Now that I know people are targeting to kill me I will never eat at any funeral. Ever since I lost my speech my health has drastically deteriorated. I don’t know if I’m ever going to be in good books with people from my village,” he said. B-Metro