Grannies in court for witchcraft

TWO grannies, in their late seventies, nearly exchanged blows at the Western Commonage set-down office in Bulawayo when they traded accusations over witchcraft yesterday.

Miriam Mpofu (76) appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Stephen Ndhlovu charged with indicating a wizard. She allegedly accused her neighbour, Ms Eve Muzwaba (79), of being a witch.

One of the elderly women was walking with the aid of a crutch and the other was using a walking stick.

Mpofu pleaded not guilty and Magistrate Ndhlovu remanded her out of custody to today.

For the state, Mr Kenneth Shava said the two women have not been on talking terms for over 15 years as their feud dates back to the year 2000.

He said Mpofu accused Ms Muzwaba of witchcraft by indicating that she had used non-natural means to cause the death of her own husband and two children.

Mr Shava said the grannies stopped speaking to each other in 2000 after Ms Muzwaba confronted Mpofu saying ever since she had told her that she was seeing unusual faeces in her vegetable bed, she was having problems at her house. He said on July 16 this year in Gwabalanda at around 2PM, Mpofu went to Ms Muzwaba’s house and accused her of being a witch.

“The accused person said, ‘You are a witch who was beaten by her own goblins, the hyena that you were riding dropped you on the way before you reached your destination. You also killed your husband and your children,” said Mr Shava. — @andile_tshuma