DC abandons haunted house?

OUTSPOKEN Siavonga District Commissioner, Lovemore Kanyama has laughed off claims that he has run away and abandoned his house to settle in Chirundu because of witchcraft. Siavonga residents told the Daily Nation that Mr Kanyama had abandoned his house in the high cost area after experiencing strange happenings which he allegedly attributed to witchcraft by his enemies.

Mr. Kanyama was said to have relocated to Chirundu.

He however laughed off the claims and explained that he was just building in Chirundu.

Mr Kanyama said in an interview that the claims were not true and that he was still based in Siavonga.

“It is not true, I am still staying in my house here in Siavonga. Just building in Chirundu and the house is not yet complete,” he said.

Recently, Mr. Kanyama called firefighters from the Siavonga fire station to his house after a snake was found in his bedroom.

It is yet to be established whether the snake incident is also connected to the witchcraft claims. But neighbours spoken to said the area was prone to snakes due to its location.

And in a similar development, a teacher at Manchavya primary School in Siavonga has complained of witchcraft at the government learning institution.

The teacher who requested for anonymity said villagers were in the habit of bewitching any teacher who speaks against early child marriage at the school.

''We are afraid to speak against child marriages because once the villagers discover that you are against the trend, they kill your children and sleep with your wife in her sleep,” the teacher claimed.

He said as a way of protecting themselves from the rampant witchcraft practices in the district, some teachers working in rural areas had also become witches to counter the behaviour of villagers.