Polygamous marriage turns sour
A polygamous marriage has turned sour for a Chimanimani man as his first wife has been mentally unstable for the past 38 years amid suspicions of witchcraft from the second wife’s family.
The feuding parties recently revealed this at Acting Chief Saurombe’s court.
The court heard that Caleb Makamanzi and his unidentified second wife might be behind Lucia Chinawa’s predicament.
For the past 38 years, Lucia has been suffering from a mental illness that makes her violent.
Chinawa’s brother, Joseph Chinawa, accused Makamanzi of casting a spell on his sister.
During the court session, Chinawa demanded that Makamanzi reverses the curse.
The visibly troubled Chinawa claimed that Makamanzi and his second wife deserted their Chimanimani home and relocated to Mutare, leaving his ailing sister behind.
“For years, we have been trying to convince him to reverse this curse since age is catching up with him.
‘‘This has been falling on deaf ears. He might die soon without reversing this curse. All he cares about is his young wife who had a hand in my sister’s mental illness,” he said.
Chinawa said a traditional healer revealed that Makamanzi’s second wife was not supposed to get married due to goblin issues within her family.
“However, Makamanzi married her and when he got wind of the goblin issue, the matter was taken to Chief Mutambara’s court where his second wife’s parents were summoned. “They were ordered to cleanse their daughter. They took her away with them and claimed that they had cleansed her. All this time my sister was healthy.
“However, when Makamanzi’s new wife came back, they connived to shift the goblin curse to my sister and she has been mentally challenged since 1985,” said Chinawa.
He said when his sister’s mental illness began, she complained of chest pains, loss of voice and excessive headaches.
“We have transferred this matter to this court because it seems as if Makamanzi and his wife disrespect Chief Mutambara. For years, they were ordered to reverse the curse, but spurned the court’s directive. They also absconded Chief Mutambara’s court,” he said.
Chinawa went further to claim that the curse is also killing his sister’s children.
“The goblin is also blood thirsty and killing my sister’s children. This has been causing us sleepless nights as a family, hence the decision to bring this matter before this court,” said Chinawa.
Makamanzi confirmed that a goblin is troubling his first wife.
“It is true that my second wife was a goblin’s wife and the matter was heard before the late Chief Mutambara’s court. My father-in-law confirmed that he had married off his daughter to a goblin, but did not disclose this to me when I married her. I believe the matter was finalised because the late Chief Mutambara asked her parents to cleanse her.
“When my in-laws brought my second wife back to me, I believed they had cleansed her because the goblin was no longer terrorising her.
“It could be my second wife’s family that cast the spell on my first wife, but I am not sure,” he said.
Makamanzi said he visited his in-laws in Karoi after he had received the court summons, but they failed to cooperate.
“My second wife refused to attend this court session, so I went to my in-laws and sought their intervention. They also refused to come and attend this court session. I am now stuck because it seems like they do not want to take their goblin back,” he said.
Acting Chief Saurombe adjourned the matter to Sunday (October 29) to allow Makamanzi’s in-laws to be summoned to appear before his court.