Tsikamutanda Gava bares it all

“A PROPHET is not without honour except in his own hometown. Could this Biblical maxim be true of the controversial witch-hunters popularly known as tsikamutandas?

These infamous witch sniffers traverse the length and breadth of the country on their witch hunt, flushing out goblins, sorcerers and voodoo among villagers. Interestingly or rather ironically a tsikamutanda hardly, if ever, conducts rituals in his home area. Criticism of the witch-hunters and their acts has thus often been premised on this observation. That is the case with the tsikamutandas who have set base in Ntabazinduna, Matabeleland North Province for the past five or so months on a mission to “rid the area of its evils”.

Sunday News has established that none of all the 15 witch-hunters that are camped at Ntabazinduna come from the area.

Some come from as far as Gokwe, Mberengwa, Mutoko and Marondera. If these witch-hunters are genuine, then why do they often, if not always, take their acts everywhere else but their home areas? Is it that there is more evil elsewhere and not among their kith and kin? Sceptics may quiz. Could these chaps be genuine witch-hunters but without honour in their own towns, or there are blatant crooks craft enough to take their act away from their kin for fear of being exposed?

An old Shona adage goes, “muroyi royera kure vedzinza vagokureverera”, directly translated to mean bewitch as far from your own community as possible so that your kin may testify in your defence. Sunday News recently caught up with 39-year-old Kumbulani Moyo, one of the witchhunters operating in Ntabazinduna who comes from Gokwe’s Nembudziya area.

Moyo, whose trade name is “Gava” gave an insight into his work, how he was recruited into the practice and also dispelled some of the stereotypes associated with witch hunting. Gava is a Shona name for a jackal — an animal well known for its cowardly, nocturnal, and gregarious nature. Moyo’s nom de guerre could never be more apt. He explained why his kind often take their practice far from where they grew up.

“It’s difficult for people who watched you grow up and those you grew up with to appreciate your gift. The trickiest part is your motives can easily be misconstrued. Imagine if I flush out a goblin at my neighbour’s homestead, other villagers will suspect malice and accuse me of trying to settle personal scores. It’s easier to be appreciated if people don’t know you which is why most of us operate away from our home areas. If another tsikamutanda from a different area will come to my area they are easily accepted,” he reasoned.

Gava said he started his practice in 2001 as a 24-yearold errand boy for a tsikamutanda operating in Plumtree after his boss — Gejo identified a rare talent in him. As a member of the Christo 12 Apostles church Gava said he always had the gift of prophecy in him as a young boy, an attribute he says tickled Gejo.

“It all started when I was in Plumtree working for a tsikamutanda called Gejo who was operating in the area. My boss took me from Gokwe to assist him in his work as an errand boy. He told me that he had seen a rare talent in me and wanted me to become his protégé and so he started teaching me the practice of witch-hunting. With time I had graduated from being an errand boy to his assistant and apprentice. I could also lead rituals and flush out goblins,” said Gava.

Asked if he underwent some form of initiation ritual to join the tsikamutanda practice, Gava said, “There is no ritual. One simply must have that sort of gift which you nurture over time through guidance of more experienced witch-hunters”.

After his boss passed on around 2005, Gava continued on his own but later joined another crew called Wafawafa where he is one of the senior members in a squad of 15 witch-hunters. Wafa-wafa, Gava said, is a group of prophets and traditional healers who have joined forces against evil. He explained that the group is made up of tsikamutandas but chose the name Wafa-wafa to capture the risky nature of their practice.

“It’s a matter of life and death my brother. If a goblin defeats you then you are gone but if you are strong you will kill it, hence the name Wafa-wafa. We are all tsikamutandas but we just chose to have a unique name which captures the nature of our job. In the group there are prophets and traditional healers who complement each other in their work.” But aren’t prophets and traditional healers like the Jews and Samaritans?

“The power comes from the same God, it’s just that we receive it through different avenues. Prophets get their power through Jesus Christ and traditional healers get theirs through ancestors. It is such an understanding that has seen us being able to work together complementing each other,” Gava explained. To Page 9

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