Man, wife try to evict from own house

A woman from Bulawayo was left with no choice but to have her son and daughter-in-law chucked out of her house after they accused her of being a witch before trying to evict her from her matrimonial home.

Mother and son Juliet Dumbura and Usebrain Mademutsa respectively had been living peacefully until Mademutsa got married to Mildred.

The house belongs to Dumbura whose husband died four years ago.

Trouble allegedly started brewing when Mildred moved into the house as the newly wedded daughter-in-law and she immediately started making manoeuvres to have her mother-in-law kicked out.

"It's so disheartening that the whole neighbourhood now calls me a witch because of the accusations made by my son Usebrain with the influence of his wife Mildred.  I gave  birth to Usebrain at Pelandaba Clinic but now he says I'm not his biological mother and that I'm a witch so the two have connived to kick me out of my husband's house," Dumbura told B-Metro.

Sleeping outside in the cold is nothing new to the old woman.

But she has vowed to stay put.

"I never had problems with my son until he started dating Mildred, they married and she moved into my house. I've been given an ultimatum to either leave the house dead or alive but I'm not going anywhere because this is my house that we (with her late husband) worked hard to buy," she said.

Her other son James, however, said he was not even aware that his brother Usebrain was married and thus could fathom how a total stranger was trying to evict his mother from her home.

"I was surprised that Mildred lives at my parents' house because I don't even know that she is married to my brother. I'm equally surprised that she is conniving with my brother to kick our mother out of her own home," said James.

He says he has advised his mother to seek help from the police or the local residents association.

When contacted for comment the son accused of terrorising his mother accused her of making his life difficult before hanging up his phone.