Mysterious snake at funeral wake of 4-year-old boy

CHIDOBE villagers, on the outskirts of Victoria Falls, were left in shock after a mysterious snake appeared and disappeared several times at a funeral wake of a four-year-old boy who drowned in a shallow pit in a kraal.

Denis Thebe, Chidobe ward councillor confirmed the incident which happened early last month and said villagers are still in shock, leading them to believe the boy's death could have been an act of witchcraft.

"A snake was seen in a bucket near the hut where the deceased's body was and people started arguing on whether to kill the snake or not," he said.

"When women, who were cooking decided to pour boiling water on the snake, they discovered that it had disappeared, but it, however, reappeared at night, as people were preparing to sleep."

Chidobe 1 village head, Ester Sibanda said everyone was stunned, as the boy kept emitting phlegm instead of coughing out water, in keeping with someone who had drowned.

"The whole incident is difficult to understand," she said.

"There were no indications the boy could have drowned."

Sibanda said the boy's death occurred when he was playing with another boy of his age at a kraal where there was a pit full of  water.

"The other child said the deceased boy took a stick and used it to check the depth of the pit, but fell into it," she said.

"The mother realised that her child was missing and looked for him and was told by the other boy that he left him in the pit. The mother, only identified as MaZondo, rushed to the kraal and retrieved the body."