Bogus chief fleeces villagers of livestock, cash, free labour
A CUNNING man in Mashonaland West has appointed himself traditional Chief Devera and has been making people in his “chiefdom” pay homage with livestock, menial jobs, cash and little everything else, since 2019.
However, records at the Ministry of Local Government in Kadoma show that the chieftainship was abolished in Rhodesia and has not yet been resuscitated.
So convincing has been Simbarase Chikuya that for three years, villagers have been taking turns to guard him and the homestead they built for him on a rock promontory, overseeing a vast tract of land below.
The villagers built a shrine and homestead.
Every farming season, villagers are made to contribute seed, fertilizer, draught power and labour for his majesty.
This is not a script for an African movie, but a real situation which has seen villagers in Chakari, Chegutu Six and Sanyati lose their hard earned cattle, goats, sheep, chicken, cash and precious time to a man they now call a fraudster.
“He lied to us that President Mnangagwa had appointed him chief in 2019 and that within weeks, he would be anointed at a ceremony in front of us all. He then appointed me his secretary and for three years we collected livestock, goods and cash from villagers. We have the records.
“We even forced people to work for him in the fields and building his compound and shrine until recently when I differed with him for continuously demanding all sorts of payments from poor villagers, when the Government does not recognize the chieftainship.
“We are not sure how we got blinded by this man who is not even a member of our clan. Now we know he is not a chief. The Government has not appointed him chief. He is nothing. When it all started in 2019, he told us he had been appointed our chief by the President and we believed him.
“We were taking turns to buy him airtime, bread and everything. I would personally deliver the bread by bicycle to his home. Later he demanded the bicycle itself and I had to sell it, to avoid it being confiscated,’’ said Fanuel Yothum Torimirashiri, in an interview from his homestead near Chakari Mine.
According to his records, collaborated by the eldest living Devera clan member Mr Zivanai Muza, two headmen were appointed and made to pay six cattle each or USD$300, to buy the position. One of those who paid was Mr Chuma Gora.
The 43 village heads appointed by Mr Chikura were made to pay a beast each at the same United States Dollars equivalent. The headmen and the village heads, according to the records, were also made to pay US$10 to have their fingerprints taken by police as a security check.
The money was paid but no fingerprints were taken. Each of the headmen and village heads was made to pay a further US$4 monthly, according to Mr Torimirashiri’s records, towards the chief ’s security.
But Mr Chikuya, insisted in an interview yesterday that he was Chief Devera, appointed in 2019 and only waiting for official ceremony. He however has no documentation to prove his claim.
“I am their chief. I have been working towards the resuscitation of our chieftainship abolished in 1857. I am just waiting for President Mnangagwa to come down here and anoint me. The venue will be Chakari Stadium. No one is contesting that I am the chief. My papers are now in high offices.
“All what you hear is the work on detractors. Those I appointed into positions like village heads or headmen are my working team to put structures in place. People gave me goods on their own will,’’ says Mr Chikuya.
Mr Chikuya claims that the chiefdom is a vast swathe of gold-rich land that borders Chief Neuso to the west, chief Ngezi to the south and east and Makonde to the north. The chiefdom does not exist.
But the people who have been working tirelessly since he claimed the appointment in 2019, are now tired of his antics and turning against him and demanding back their livestock.
“We have now discovered him and his tricks. He is from Gokwe and came here following his lover and he has no original home in this place. The one he calls home, is what we built for him. He came here as a traditional healer, a Tsikamutanda, studied our people and abused them with fake promises of chieftainship.
“I am the oldest living member of the Devera Clan and I don’t know him. I don’t know his parents or relatives. We have just started a process to reclaim our chieftainship abolished by colonial Rhodesia and nothing has reached the point of appointment.
The Government is yet to start work on resuscitating our chieftainship. This man must be arrested and he must pay back all what he took from our people,’’ said Mr Muza the oldest living family member.
Whichever way it will end, Mr Chikuya has lived a royal life, that makes any chief in Zimbabwe green with envy. As to how it ends, time is a great teacher. The people are beginning to demand back their dues.