Boy (9) unleashes juju on classmates and family

A nine-year-old boy from Bulawayo has left residents of Nkulumane puzzled after his use of a juju herb that is referred to in Ndebele as umadondisa, which supposedly was a remedy to a low reasoning capacity. It is reported that the boy had been getting low grades and sought counsel from one of his peers who gave him the herb.

After he was given the herb he started going with it to class, but surprisingly made his classmates lose concentration and feel weary, sources said. The loss of concentration from his classmates camouflaged his failure and awarded him a spot at the top of his class. According to some reports his mostalgic ties with the herb resulted in him growing the herb at his home. Reports say that the herb made his mother tired and at times she would lose the zeal to even cook and sometimes they would skip meals.

"At times I failed to go to work even if I had sought a goodnight sleep, I always feel weary and drowsy. I remember this one time I failed to even shower. This never-ending exhaustion made me draw a conclusion that I was being bewitched and did what we Africans normally do, consult a higher power," revealed the mother.

She then went to a prophet who started unravelling the 'truth' which she said was shocking and disturbing.

"I did not go straight to the prophet and tell him my problem but rather he asked the church if there was a woman who for the past weeks had been feeling quite weary and disturbed then i stood up. The revelation I had was horrifying and disturbing. I did not for a second think that my son could get involved in these vodoo mishaps," the woman said.

Reports say the boy confessed to have used the herb in order to get good results at school and had no idea it would cause great discomfort. The boy's mother appealed to parents in general to take part in their children's educational welfare and make it a priority to warn them from the dangers of using juju.