Juju rocks divorce saga

via Juju rocks divorce saga 9 October 2014

Jocelyn Mauchaza, ex-wife of army commander Constantine Chiwenga, says she found mysterious juju items in one of the couple’s houses.

Mauchaza was ejected from one of the properties owned by the estranged couple in Borrowdale Brooke and on Friday moved into an adjacent matrimonial house – where she discovered the items believed to be used for black magic or juju.

The two had not been using the house – but would visit it from time to time. It was being guarded by a caretaker.

Mauchaza told The Zimbabwean that a deputy sheriff who had followed her to the house, together with some suspected plain-clothed soldiers, asked her to open the safe, insisting that they were looking for guns that she might have hidden in the house. She did not have the keys, so the safe was forcibly broken.

“When the safe was opened, all the people who were present ran for dear life because they were scared by what they saw. The safe was full of juju material which included an assortment of cloths used for ritual purposes, beads and animal tails,” said Mauchaza.

“When the safe was opened, all the people who were present ran for dear life because they were scared by what they saw. The safe was full of juju material which included an assortment of cloths used for ritual purposes, beads and animal tails,” said Mauchaza.

A source added that the material included pierced portraits of women – something associated with voodoo. Mauchaza claimed she had not managed to establish the origins of the items, but admitted that she was aware of them prior to moving in last Friday.

“I did not run away because I knew what was in there all along. I raised this issue in court when our divorce case was being heard and the judge even asked my former husband if he knew about the items but he said no,” added Mauchaza.

“At one time I asked for an explanation and all that I heard was that the paraphernalia belonged to Mbuya Nehanda.”

Mbuya Nehanda is considered one the icons of the 1890s rebellion against colonial rule and several traditional spirit mediums have over the years claimed that she talks through them. “There has also been talk about a coffin in one of the houses, but I have not seen it,” she said.

She claimed that both she and her former husband had keys to the house, but it was not clear if other people, the janitor included, could have had access to the property in their absence.

Mauchaza has been embroiled in a bitter property sharing wrangle with Chiwenga following a recent High Court order granting the couple a divorce.

Chiwenga first forced her off the Dockson Farm in Goromonzi before swooping on the Borrowdale house where she was staying. The farm is being guarded by soldiers from the Presidential Guard who have reportedly taken over farming on the property and are said to be harassing villagers from nearby communities and Mauchaza’s farm workers.

The deployment of soldiers on the farm has sparked an outcry, with observers accusing Chiwenga of abusing military personnel to pursue personal goals.

“Does Chiwenga think he is the president of this country? Why is he doing as he pleases as if there is no rule of law? He is threatening me, my lawyers and other people at will. The nation has to know,” fumed Mauchaza.

No comment could be obtained from Chiwenga. Mauchaza also revealed that he was acting in defiance of a presidential directive to own only one farm, saying he possessed three.

During the fast track land redistribution programme that started in 2000 and forced about 5,000 commercial white farmers off their land, purportedly to resettle land hungry blacks, politicians and generals grabbed multiple farms for themselves.

Mugabe has repeatedly ordered them to surrender the extra farms, but his calls have largely fallen on deaf ears.

Sources privy to goings on at Dockson Farm said Mauchaza was evicted a day after she purchased and transported $26,000 potato seed from Mutare.

“The seed has since sprouted and gone bad due to delays in planting as Jocelyn could no longer access the farm,” said one of the sources.

Mauchaza claimed the house she moved into had been wilfully vandalised by unknown people, with the water tank having been destroyed. She said the divorce would affect a child they had adopted and given the Chiwenga surname.