Kutsipika backfires as ngozi of thief beaten to death torments 5 different families

FIVE families from Ngirazi Village under Chief Makoni have gone before a community court seeking help to appease the spirit of a man they admit was fatally assaulted after being accused of theft.

The Nyamubarwa, Nyagwaya, Karumekayi, Window and Jackson families appeared before Chief Makoni’s court seeking an audience with Paul Muza, a relative of the deceased, Leonard Tsikwaurere. They say Tsikwaurere’s avenging spirit is now tormenting people linked to his death.

Muza was summoned as the families looked for a traditional resolution to a matter that has followed them for years. Headman Ngirazi, speaking on behalf of the families, told the court that villagers had taken the law into their own hands after an elderly woman accused Tsikwaurere of stealing.

“Some time ago, Leonard Tsikwaurere was returning from the shops when he passed through the homestead of an elderly woman. Upon seeing him, she shouted that he was a thief. Villagers responded to the alarm and assaulted him,” said Headman Ngirazi.

He said the assault did not end when Tsikwaurere was left injured.

“The assailants later admitted that they loaded him into a wheelbarrow and dumped him in a nearby thicket while he was still alive. He was subsequently found dead. Four villagers were arrested, convicted and each served a six-month prison sentence for the offence,” he said.

The prison sentences did not settle the matter for the families. Headman Ngirazi said Tsikwaurere’s alleged avenging spirit was troubling both the people who had been prosecuted and others who took part in the assault but were never brought before the criminal courts.

“The deceased’s avenging spirit is reportedly troubling, not only those who were arrested, but also other individuals who participated in the assault and were never prosecuted. The families have come before this court seeking guidance on how to appease the spirit and bring closure to the matter,” he said.

Chief Makoni referred the parties to his resident traditional healer for further consultations. The healer found indications that some of the assailants may have tried to suppress the spirit and prevent it from seeking revenge, a practice known locally as kutsipika ngozi.

The healer is said to have engaged the spirit to establish what happened to Tsikwaurere and what would be required to bring reconciliation. The findings are expected to be taken back to the community court, where the parties will hear the recommendations and decide how to proceed.

The families, however, firmly denied that they had tried to silence Tsikwaurere’s spirit. The hearing was adjourned while the traditional healer prepares a report.

The Ngirazi case has brought renewed attention to a belief that has surfaced in disputes across Zimbabwe, particularly in communities where traditional courts are used to address conflict between families. In Shona tradition, ngozi is understood as the avenging spirit of a person whose death has left a grievance between the dead person’s family and the family linked to the killing. The spirit is believed to pursue the wider bloodline, rather than only the person who delivered the fatal blow.

One of the most striking recent cases was reported in Nyatate, Nyanga, where the spirit of Henry Tagwasha was said to be demanding 105 cattle from 15 men accused of fatally assaulting him after he was caught stealing a chicken from an elderly woman. The demand also included a he-goat and a rooster from each of the men.

The matter reached Acting Chief Saunyama’s court after the spirit was said to have manifested through a 13-year-old girl. The girl’s father said she became distressed at school and once attacked a child connected to one of the men accused of killing Tagwasha. The spirit reportedly promised to leave the girl and move to a member of one of the accused families, but refused to reduce the number of cattle demanded.

Timothy Nyabunze, one of the men summoned, confirmed taking part in the beating. He said the group believed they were disciplining a local boy who had been caught stealing. Nyabunze had served two years in prison for culpable homicide and said he had expected the punishment to protect him from further consequences. The spirit, however, reportedly claimed responsibility for the lighter sentence and demanded that the families make further amends.

In Mutambara, Chimanimani, another family was still facing demands nearly five decades after the killing of a man called Chizemo. His alleged killer, Erick Mashairenyi, told Chief Mutambara’s court that he and a friend killed Chizemo in 1974 after discovering that he was in love with Mashairenyi’s sister.

Mashairenyi’s family had handed over 18 cattle in the 1980s. When the spirit was later said to have manifested, another eight cattle were paid, after which Mashairenyi recovered from a period of mental illness. Years later, the spirit was reported to be demanding two more cattle. Mashairenyi’s son, Tapuwa, also linked the family’s difficulties and the collapse of several marriages to the unresolved matter.

Chizemo’s daughter rejected that explanation, saying Tapuwa’s marriages had ended because of his womanising. She nevertheless insisted that her family was still owed the remaining compensation and that the rituals could not be completed until the debt was settled.

A case in Marange, Manicaland, involved the families of five people accused of killing Ruwizhi Makondo Mashato in 1992. The spirit was said to be demanding 50 cattle from the Mukanjari, Denga, Ndova and Mauchaza families. Male members of the families were reportedly falling ill with blisters before dying in circumstances the relatives linked to the alleged spirit.

The traditional court heard that Mashato’s head had been cut off and his body thrown into a well after his private parts were removed for ritual purposes. One of the surviving men accused in the case confessed to taking part in the killing, while another woman said she had witnessed the incident but had not participated. A woman who married into the Mukanjari family said she had lost five children and feared for the two who remained.

Chief Marange called for both traditional and criminal proceedings, saying those responsible should face the law and appease the spirit if they were convicted. The chief’s position reflected the way such disputes often move between the formal justice system and community courts, where families seek compensation, confession, burial rites and an end to the deaths and illnesses they associate with ngozi.

The consequences have also fallen on children and other relatives who were not present when the alleged killings occurred. In Honde Valley, five girls were handed over by their families after the 1995 killing of Gibson Kupemba. The girls were between seven and 15 at the time and were later made to live as wives in the family of the dead man as part of a ritual described as kuripa ngozi.

The girls left school, became mothers and were expected to contribute to their new households. The Kupemba family said more girls were still required, with each virgin accompanied by 22 cattle. The practice was challenged by child-protection officials, but the girls were eventually returned to the families involved and, in some cases, back to the Kupemba household.