News / National
WATCH: Cowdray Park 'goblin' captured
31 May 2018 at 02:25hrs | Views
Prophets attend to one of their own who had fainted during a cleansing ceremony of Maqobola, the goblin, in Cowdray Park suburb, Bulawayo, yesterday.
A Goblin, Mike Maqobola, alleged to have been leading a gang of invisible beings in terrorising Cowdray Park residents, has finally been captured in a two-hour dramatic Nigerian movie style exorcism.
Maqobola and his gang were allegedly assaulting residents, sodomising and raping women from the suburb.
Residents yesterday expressed mixed feeling over the dramatic cleansing ceremony, with some believing the "supernatural battle" had ended while some alleged that the whole ritual was staged.
A group of seven prophets led by prophet Lazarus Siziba from Holy Spirit Apostolic Church teamed up to hunt down the goblins around 11AM, with scores of people curiously waiting for the goblin to be captured.
On Tuesday night, the team held an all night vigil as they prayed and sang in preparation for yesterday's ritual.
At one of the houses where goblins were said to be, a chicken was used to "trap" Maqobola, who is alleged to have been surviving on eggs and chicken.
The goblin hunters also used empty beer bottles whose part in the ritual was not explained.
Residents who had thronged the house to witness the capture of the goblin, ran away in different directions when the prophets came out of the house speaking in a strange language.
The crew appeared to be struggling with a creature which they had wrapped in a doormat.
They told the people that they had killed the creature's spirit and thereafter moved to the next house.
Strange things wrapped with coloured beads were retrieved from the two houses.
One of the things looked like an oversized dildo, another looked like the head of a monkey while the third had feathers like a bird.
The prophets said the goblins did not belong to the house owners but were just kept at their houses.
They refused to name the goblin owners saying the crowd might attack them.
The crowd which had retreated in fear, rushed forward to view the goblins.
One of the house owners who looked shocked, denied owning goblins and demanded that the prophets expose the owner.
"They said the goblin was not mine but they have failed to tell us who the owner is. I don't even understand what they did at my house but now I want them to clarify who owns the goblins. I don't own goblins," he said.
The house owner said he suspected the act was staged.
"The ritual was supposed to start at 8AM but it was delayed up to 11AM with no explanation. These people were still planning how to go about their bogus act. I believe the creatures they are showing us were brought from somewhere just to deceive us," he said.
The second house owner said the prophets were fake because they had been to her house before the ritual and had not talked about goblins.
"I do not have goblins. The problem is that these prophets once came to my house but did not talk about goblins. The question is why now? I am still confused because they can't name the owner. If they were genuine Siziba would have foreseen that they were goblins in my house," she said.
Some residents said they were not satisfied with the ritual as they expected to see live creatures.
"They have done whatever they did but we are not satisfied with what we saw here. We are just seeing these lifeless objects said to be goblins. These objects could have been brought from somewhere by these prophets.," said Mr Message Mutara.
Some residents however said they were looking forward to peaceful nights if indeed Maqobola had been destroyed.
Goblins have, since 2015, been allegedly tormenting residents living in the Garikai section of Cowdray Park by stoning their houses or anyone who walked at night and they were also "raping" women.
In October last year, Cowdray Park residents were relieved after prophet Siziba destroyed a goblin named 'Ernest Ndlovu.'
However, the peace was short-lived as Maqobola surfaced this year and forced some residents to flee their houses after allegedly vandalising their property.
Terrified residents last week contributed $1 each to hire Wafa-Wafas, goblin hunters from the Zion Church in South Africa to remove the goblins.
The goblin was nicknamed Maqobola, which is IsiNdebele for "hit with an object like a stone," because it had developed a penchant for stoning residents.
Maqobola and his gang were allegedly assaulting residents, sodomising and raping women from the suburb.
Residents yesterday expressed mixed feeling over the dramatic cleansing ceremony, with some believing the "supernatural battle" had ended while some alleged that the whole ritual was staged.
A group of seven prophets led by prophet Lazarus Siziba from Holy Spirit Apostolic Church teamed up to hunt down the goblins around 11AM, with scores of people curiously waiting for the goblin to be captured.
On Tuesday night, the team held an all night vigil as they prayed and sang in preparation for yesterday's ritual.
At one of the houses where goblins were said to be, a chicken was used to "trap" Maqobola, who is alleged to have been surviving on eggs and chicken.
The goblin hunters also used empty beer bottles whose part in the ritual was not explained.
Residents who had thronged the house to witness the capture of the goblin, ran away in different directions when the prophets came out of the house speaking in a strange language.
The crew appeared to be struggling with a creature which they had wrapped in a doormat.
They told the people that they had killed the creature's spirit and thereafter moved to the next house.
Strange things wrapped with coloured beads were retrieved from the two houses.
One of the things looked like an oversized dildo, another looked like the head of a monkey while the third had feathers like a bird.
The prophets said the goblins did not belong to the house owners but were just kept at their houses.
They refused to name the goblin owners saying the crowd might attack them.
The crowd which had retreated in fear, rushed forward to view the goblins.
One of the house owners who looked shocked, denied owning goblins and demanded that the prophets expose the owner.
"They said the goblin was not mine but they have failed to tell us who the owner is. I don't even understand what they did at my house but now I want them to clarify who owns the goblins. I don't own goblins," he said.
The house owner said he suspected the act was staged.
"The ritual was supposed to start at 8AM but it was delayed up to 11AM with no explanation. These people were still planning how to go about their bogus act. I believe the creatures they are showing us were brought from somewhere just to deceive us," he said.
The second house owner said the prophets were fake because they had been to her house before the ritual and had not talked about goblins.
"I do not have goblins. The problem is that these prophets once came to my house but did not talk about goblins. The question is why now? I am still confused because they can't name the owner. If they were genuine Siziba would have foreseen that they were goblins in my house," she said.
Some residents said they were not satisfied with the ritual as they expected to see live creatures.
"They have done whatever they did but we are not satisfied with what we saw here. We are just seeing these lifeless objects said to be goblins. These objects could have been brought from somewhere by these prophets.," said Mr Message Mutara.
Some residents however said they were looking forward to peaceful nights if indeed Maqobola had been destroyed.
Goblins have, since 2015, been allegedly tormenting residents living in the Garikai section of Cowdray Park by stoning their houses or anyone who walked at night and they were also "raping" women.
In October last year, Cowdray Park residents were relieved after prophet Siziba destroyed a goblin named 'Ernest Ndlovu.'
However, the peace was short-lived as Maqobola surfaced this year and forced some residents to flee their houses after allegedly vandalising their property.
Terrified residents last week contributed $1 each to hire Wafa-Wafas, goblin hunters from the Zion Church in South Africa to remove the goblins.
The goblin was nicknamed Maqobola, which is IsiNdebele for "hit with an object like a stone," because it had developed a penchant for stoning residents.
Source - chronicle
