The quiet serenity of Tengwe, a rural community nestled in the heart of Karoi, was shattered on October 10, 2018, by a chilling tale of w!tchcraft and its alleged devastating consequences.
Partson Chasakara, a 71-year-old man now residing in Unit D, Chitungwiza, claims he was robbed of his sight after a terrifying encounter with a group of naked w!tches at his rural home.
Chasakara vividly recounts the day his life took a sinister turn: “I was sitting on a chair outside my home in Tengwe around 4 pm.
Suddenly, I saw four women, completely naked and covered in mud, approaching the area where we dispose of rubbish. Their mouths were unusually long, almost a meter in length. They stared at me, and I was completely bewildered.”
Alone at the time, Chasakara was overwhelmed with fear. “These people, including two I recognised, stood by the rubbish pit, staring at me. I was petrified, and the only thought that crossed my mind was to flee.”
As he contemplated his escape, the w!tches began to move, led by someone he believes was their leader.
“They formed a circle and then walked towards my tobacco drying shed, disappearing towards the east,” Chasakara explains. As they left the rubbish pit, they all turned to look at him, hissing and stamping their right feet loudly on the ground.
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Chasakara, who suffers from high blood pressure and is on medication, says that after the w!tches vanished behind the tobacco drying shed, he began to experience a series of unsettling sensations. “My eyes started to see mist and smoke, and I felt faint. I told my neighbors, who advised me to seek help from prophets and traditional healers, but nothing worked.”
Over the next two days, his eye problem worsened, and Chasakara eventually lost his sight completely. “My wife and family started looking for answers, and we were told that people in our village who wanted me dead were behind this.
They had apparently already used their charms on me, even though I had not seen them.”
Desperate for a solution, Chasakara and his family sought solace and remedies from prophets and traditional healers.
“We tried going to prophets and traditional healers, and I was promised that I would regain my sight, but nothing helped,” he says.
With his sight gone and hope dwindling, Chasakara turned to hospitals, where doctors diagnosed him with glaucoma.
“I went to various hospitals, including Chitungwiza and Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, and the doctors told me I had glaucoma.
I’ve spent a fortune on medical bills, traditional healers, and prophets, but nothing has helped.”
The impact of Chasakara’s blindness on his family has been devastating. “I need help to regain my sight, as my farming work and other activities at home have been severely affected. I have a wife and nine children who depend on me to help them with farming and cattle herding,” he says.
Bishop Mateo Mupfumbati, a Harare-based cleric, believes that Chasakara was attacked by evil spirits, causing his blindness.
“W!tches don’t operate in the open; this man was attacked by w!tch-dogs, which are evil spirits. He was attacked after seeing those naked women. He needs help,” he says.
Dr. Hikwa, a medical professional from Harare, encourages Chasakara to seek help from qualified eye specialists. “This whole situation requires that this man goes to an eye specialist for a proper diagnosis and follows their instructions to receive treatment,” Dr. Hikwa says.
Rayton Munonoki, a resident of Harare, also believes that Chasakara was attacked by evil spirits when he saw the witches.
