Woman found with clay pot of foreskins

A 75-YEAR-OLD Gokwe woman has left villagers tongue-tied after she was found with a clay pot with foreskins which she had kept allegedly to help her sons have good marriage relations.

Ruth Mwendo of Svisvi Village appeared before Chief Nemangwe after her in-laws accused her of witchcraft following a series of family misfortunes. The Mwendo family is said to have consulted a traditional healer who visited the family and unearthed a clay pot with foreskins which he linked to the bad omen the family was facing. The foreskins were alleged to be of boys that were born in the family and were brought to Ruth for circumcision as a family ritual. Chief Nemangwe who presided over the case confirmed the development.

"I presided over a case where a woman has for the past years been keeping a clay pot containing foreskins. The family was demanding that I give them the right to expel her from the village but I turned down their request and asked them to go back and resolve the issue peacefully before taking such a decision," said Chief Nemangwe.

"The family has been experiencing some misfortunes and they decided to seek help from a traditional healer who revealed that the woman was in possession of a clay pot containing foreskins. When I asked her why she was keeping the foreskins she said they were to keep her sons' marriages intact because their entire clan had been facing marriage problems where relationships were not lasting."

Most men within the Mwendo family are reported to have been experiencing misfortune in their marriages with a majority of them divorcing a number of times. Ruth, who was the third wife to her late husband was allegedly using the foreskins to protect her sons' marriages from the "family curse." Chief Nemangwe further revealed that Ruth has five sons who were all happily married.

"The family representative who is now the head of the family complained that the family was experiencing a lot of problems with marriage relationships being the major issue. What I realised is that the family had some problems which they needed to sort out. That is the reason why I refused to let her be taken back to her family. The clay pot that was alleged to be causing problems was confiscated by the traditional healer."

Efforts to get a comment from the family representative and the accused woman were fruitless.