Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Three siblings from Chimanimani District have approached a traditional court seeking to find out why 16 of their female relatives between the ages of 20 and 40 are not yet married.
The three, Loveness Chihota (34), Anniah Chokera (27) and Liberty Chokera, said they want to know what is causing marriage delays in the family.
They are accusing their uncles Oliver, Nobert, Lovemore, John, Ngwarirai and Tendai Chokera of witchcraft, and have dragged them to Acting Chief Saurombe’s court.
Speaking in a recent interview with The Manica Post, Anniah claimed that each time one of them elopes, she is sent back within a week as they manifest with some spirit demanding them back home. She said:
We are cousins suffering from this strange phenomenon. In fact, a total of 16 women are not married in our family. We have tried to seek an audience with our fathers, but it seems as if all of them do not care.
They act as if they are working in cohorts to stop us from getting married. We have secretly approached spiritual healers and we were told that our fathers are behind our suffering.
It is getting out of hand because when one of us elopes, they are possessed by an unknown spirit and manifests in front of the in-laws.
Within a week, they would have sent you back to your parents’ home. This has been happening for a long time. Most of us have encountered this.
Testifying before the court, Loveness said women from her family are very good looking but men in the area are now afraid of befriending or dating women. Said Loveness:
We have tried to engage our fathers over this issue, but our pleas have been falling on deaf ears.
We decided to seek the services of the traditional courts for our plea to be heard.
We are good looking, but potential suitors from our area no longer want to get close to us.
She also claimed that some of their siblings suffer from bouts of mental illness.
In response to the allegations on behalf of all his brothers, Nobert said they were not responsible for what was happening in their family but were equally concerned. He said:
No father wants to see his daughter remain single forever. Our daughters are very beautiful and we also wonder why no one is trying to seek their hands in marriage.
The family was referred to a traditional healer, but the “sangoma” ordered them to come back with their brother, Tendai, who was absent on the day.
The matter was adjourned to Sunday, 22 October.
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