News / National
Spirit's demands put family in dilemma
18 Jul 2017 at 06:50hrs | Views
IT'S 11PM and every family member at Mr Farai Urayayi's homestead in the Njelele area, Gokwe North, is fast asleep.
Mr Urayayi (46) is in his bedroom hut with his new wife, Ms Spiwe Mpofu (43).
He married his new wife after the death of his first wife Mrs Judith Urayayi.
His two daughters, Linda (23) and Acknet (24), are also asleep in another bedroom hut with their children.
Linda has just given birth to her second child and Acknet, who is married with a child and staying at Gokwe Centre is back home to see her sibling's child.
The family is happy.
It has been seven years since the passing of Mrs Urayayi. Two years after her death, Mr Urayayi married his new love, Ms Mpofu.
It suddenly starts raining and Acknet lets out a loud scream that startles her sister and children from their sleep.
So sharp is her scream that even her father and step-mother who are in their bedroom hut which is six metres away jump out of bed to go and investigate.
Inside the girls' bedroom hut, Acknet had gone into a trance, and it is so dark, the other children start crying.
Linda, confused on whether to hold the screaming Acknet before she steps on the children and injures them or move the children to safety fumbles on the floor, looking for matches to light a candle.
Mr Urayayi breaks the door open only to find his daughter in a trance. As soon as he breaks open the door, Acknet bolts out headed for the kitchen where she starts throwing out kitchen utensils belonging to her stepmother.
From there, she goes to her parents' bedroom hut where still in the thick of the night, she goes to the wardrobe, picks out her stepmother's clothes and throws them out.
As she is doing this, Acknet shouts that she doesn't want a stranger at the homestead.
"There's a stranger in my homestead and I don't want her. She must leave at once or I will kill Urayayi. The person I want in my homestead is the daughter to my brother — Judith. She must be married to Urayayi," shouted Acknet much to the shock of everyone.
The stranger - they later learnt - was Ms Mpofu, her stepmother. In place of the latter — the girl in a trance identified an 18-year-old girl, Judith, as the suitable girl to be married to Mr Urayayi.
Judith shares the same name with Mr Urayayi's first wife.
She is daughter to Mr Honest Dube - brother to the late Mrs Judith Urayayi.
Mr Urayayi and Ms Mpofu are both living positively with HIV.
The rare occurrence in the Njelele area has left Mr Urayayi, Ms Mpofu, Chief Njelele and the village at large in a state of quandary as to what step to take to address the matter.
Linda told the Chronicle that they believed that when Acknet goes into a trance it will be their late mother speaking through her.
She said they were also shocked when Acknet went into a trance and started behaving and speaking like their late mother.
"From 2011, when my father started dating and subsequently marrying my stepmother, all was well until this January when my mother's spirit disapproved of the union. We visited prophets and traditional healers who said it was the spirit of our late mother (Judith) that was making my sister go into a trance. We believe my mother's spirit wants my father to marry her relative called Judith. Whenever Judith calls my father to ask if we are okay, that same day my sister goes into a trance," said Linda.
"My mother's spirit threatened to kill my father if he doesn't marry Judith. We don't want to make the spirit angry and we don't want our father to die. So I just don't know what to do."
Mr Urayayi said he had since asked Ms Mpofu to vacate the homestead as he prepares for the coming of the young Judith.
He said while he appreciated that he was HIV positive and that the young girl wasn't — he feared for his life and would do anything to preserve it.
"My wife died in 2010 and in 2015 we performed the traditional rituals for my late wife and her relatives gave me the greenlight to marry again. I paid one cow for taking a new wife.
"It's very complicated for me and I don't want to die because of this. I won't force Judith to come but if she comes, I'll do what the spirit is ordering me to do," said Mr Urayayi.
He said every time he tries to reach out to Ms Mpofu, he "dies".
"I no longer communicate with my second wife because if I attempt to do so, something happens and my children tell me afterwards that I had died. It's very scary and it is a situation I don't want to be in. I just need to allow the spirit to lead," said Mr Urayayi.
Ms Mpofu, who has gone back to her parents' homestead some 40km away, said she was going to fight for her husband.
She said the so called spirit was a creation of the relatives of Mr Urayayi's first wife whom she accused of wanting to kill him so that they take their two cattle.
Ms Mpofu said she reported the matter to Chief Njelele after suspecting foul play.
"When Acknet threw away my things, I approached the chief for guidance and he said he was going to call in a tsikamutanda, traditional healers and prophets to put the matter to rest. Chief Njelele and I are of the view that some relatives of the late Judith are being mischievous.
"I've told my husband that we can construct our own homestead and live together but he is refusing saying that he will be guided by the spirit. My husband and I are both living positively and we've been like this for years. It would be unfair for this child to be married to him because she can be infected. I'm calling on people who can help us solve this matter as a matter of urgency to assist before something bad happens to this innocent child," she said.
Mr Dube (47), Judith's father, said he did not want to hear about the matter.
"What's happening is not to be believed and I don't care about what they do at the Urayayi homestead. I don't want to hear my daughter's name being mentioned and she'll never marry Urayayi," roared Mr Dube.
"I don't want her to get married to Urayayi. She's still a virgin and how can she get married to a 46-year-old HIV positive man? Let him look for another wife if his children are not happy with their stepmother. After all, my daughter is young and has a bright future ahead of her. I've taken her to my relative in Harare because I don't want her near these evil people."
Chief Njelele said he was not going to watch while the life of a girl child is destroyed.
He said he had summoned the Urayayi family including relatives of his late wife and Mr Dube to his court in a bid to stop the proposed marriage.
"We have a situation where a spirit of a late woman is coming through her daughter demanding that her father marry a young girl. The girl is 18 years old and the man she is supposed to marry is 46 years old and he is HIV positive. We're not saying that people living with HIV are not supposed to marry, no. But there should be consent and in this case there is no consent. I have summoned these people before my court so that we put an end to this," said Chief Njelele.
He said issues of culture should not be used to undermine human rights adding that Judith had every reason to be protected from such situations.
"If there's someone who is being mischievous for personal glory or gain, we'll bring them to book. We'll even involve the police so that someone is arrested," said Chief Njelele.
Mr Urayayi (46) is in his bedroom hut with his new wife, Ms Spiwe Mpofu (43).
He married his new wife after the death of his first wife Mrs Judith Urayayi.
His two daughters, Linda (23) and Acknet (24), are also asleep in another bedroom hut with their children.
Linda has just given birth to her second child and Acknet, who is married with a child and staying at Gokwe Centre is back home to see her sibling's child.
The family is happy.
It has been seven years since the passing of Mrs Urayayi. Two years after her death, Mr Urayayi married his new love, Ms Mpofu.
It suddenly starts raining and Acknet lets out a loud scream that startles her sister and children from their sleep.
So sharp is her scream that even her father and step-mother who are in their bedroom hut which is six metres away jump out of bed to go and investigate.
Inside the girls' bedroom hut, Acknet had gone into a trance, and it is so dark, the other children start crying.
Linda, confused on whether to hold the screaming Acknet before she steps on the children and injures them or move the children to safety fumbles on the floor, looking for matches to light a candle.
Mr Urayayi breaks the door open only to find his daughter in a trance. As soon as he breaks open the door, Acknet bolts out headed for the kitchen where she starts throwing out kitchen utensils belonging to her stepmother.
From there, she goes to her parents' bedroom hut where still in the thick of the night, she goes to the wardrobe, picks out her stepmother's clothes and throws them out.
As she is doing this, Acknet shouts that she doesn't want a stranger at the homestead.
"There's a stranger in my homestead and I don't want her. She must leave at once or I will kill Urayayi. The person I want in my homestead is the daughter to my brother — Judith. She must be married to Urayayi," shouted Acknet much to the shock of everyone.
The stranger - they later learnt - was Ms Mpofu, her stepmother. In place of the latter — the girl in a trance identified an 18-year-old girl, Judith, as the suitable girl to be married to Mr Urayayi.
Judith shares the same name with Mr Urayayi's first wife.
She is daughter to Mr Honest Dube - brother to the late Mrs Judith Urayayi.
Mr Urayayi and Ms Mpofu are both living positively with HIV.
The rare occurrence in the Njelele area has left Mr Urayayi, Ms Mpofu, Chief Njelele and the village at large in a state of quandary as to what step to take to address the matter.
Linda told the Chronicle that they believed that when Acknet goes into a trance it will be their late mother speaking through her.
"From 2011, when my father started dating and subsequently marrying my stepmother, all was well until this January when my mother's spirit disapproved of the union. We visited prophets and traditional healers who said it was the spirit of our late mother (Judith) that was making my sister go into a trance. We believe my mother's spirit wants my father to marry her relative called Judith. Whenever Judith calls my father to ask if we are okay, that same day my sister goes into a trance," said Linda.
"My mother's spirit threatened to kill my father if he doesn't marry Judith. We don't want to make the spirit angry and we don't want our father to die. So I just don't know what to do."
Mr Urayayi said he had since asked Ms Mpofu to vacate the homestead as he prepares for the coming of the young Judith.
He said while he appreciated that he was HIV positive and that the young girl wasn't — he feared for his life and would do anything to preserve it.
"My wife died in 2010 and in 2015 we performed the traditional rituals for my late wife and her relatives gave me the greenlight to marry again. I paid one cow for taking a new wife.
"It's very complicated for me and I don't want to die because of this. I won't force Judith to come but if she comes, I'll do what the spirit is ordering me to do," said Mr Urayayi.
He said every time he tries to reach out to Ms Mpofu, he "dies".
"I no longer communicate with my second wife because if I attempt to do so, something happens and my children tell me afterwards that I had died. It's very scary and it is a situation I don't want to be in. I just need to allow the spirit to lead," said Mr Urayayi.
Ms Mpofu, who has gone back to her parents' homestead some 40km away, said she was going to fight for her husband.
She said the so called spirit was a creation of the relatives of Mr Urayayi's first wife whom she accused of wanting to kill him so that they take their two cattle.
Ms Mpofu said she reported the matter to Chief Njelele after suspecting foul play.
"When Acknet threw away my things, I approached the chief for guidance and he said he was going to call in a tsikamutanda, traditional healers and prophets to put the matter to rest. Chief Njelele and I are of the view that some relatives of the late Judith are being mischievous.
"I've told my husband that we can construct our own homestead and live together but he is refusing saying that he will be guided by the spirit. My husband and I are both living positively and we've been like this for years. It would be unfair for this child to be married to him because she can be infected. I'm calling on people who can help us solve this matter as a matter of urgency to assist before something bad happens to this innocent child," she said.
Mr Dube (47), Judith's father, said he did not want to hear about the matter.
"What's happening is not to be believed and I don't care about what they do at the Urayayi homestead. I don't want to hear my daughter's name being mentioned and she'll never marry Urayayi," roared Mr Dube.
"I don't want her to get married to Urayayi. She's still a virgin and how can she get married to a 46-year-old HIV positive man? Let him look for another wife if his children are not happy with their stepmother. After all, my daughter is young and has a bright future ahead of her. I've taken her to my relative in Harare because I don't want her near these evil people."
Chief Njelele said he was not going to watch while the life of a girl child is destroyed.
He said he had summoned the Urayayi family including relatives of his late wife and Mr Dube to his court in a bid to stop the proposed marriage.
"We have a situation where a spirit of a late woman is coming through her daughter demanding that her father marry a young girl. The girl is 18 years old and the man she is supposed to marry is 46 years old and he is HIV positive. We're not saying that people living with HIV are not supposed to marry, no. But there should be consent and in this case there is no consent. I have summoned these people before my court so that we put an end to this," said Chief Njelele.
He said issues of culture should not be used to undermine human rights adding that Judith had every reason to be protected from such situations.
"If there's someone who is being mischievous for personal glory or gain, we'll bring them to book. We'll even involve the police so that someone is arrested," said Chief Njelele.
Source - chronicle
