Villagers in Inyathi’s Village 5 claim a mysterious snake is “raping” women, inflicting weak erections on men and stealing their money.
Some of the villagers who spoke to B-Metro said they believe the snake belongs to a fellow villager who is using it to make money. Said one of the villagers:
Our husbands work tirelessly to feed the families but we don’t see the outcomes as whatever money they earn just disappears into air thin without being used and this seems to be happening in many homes because everyone is complaining of the same that is why we suspect that this is someone’s snake.
The snake was reportedly first seen in a sack on a mountain by a hunter who alerted the village head.
However, when the village head and villagers went to the mountain to see the snake, there was nothing in the sack except used pampers.
Self-styled exorcists, the Tsikamutandas, were invited by some villagers to cleanse the whole village and find the snake and its owner.
It is alleged that a whirlwind rose and moved about until it stopped at the homestead of a woman suspected to be the owner of the snake.
The woman, however, told B-Metro that other villagers were jealous of her family’s success and have attributed their prosperous lives to a non-existent snake. She said:
I also heard that there is a snake terrorising people but the allegations held against me that I am its owner are all lies, I don’t know anything about that and I have not seen any snake.
She said her neighbours are now afraid of her and wherever she goes, people point fingers at her and her children are being shunned and humiliated at school.
Villagers now want the Tsikamutandas to go door by door to cleanse and protect every homestead from the snake.
The Village Headman, Frank Hlalakuhle, ruled out the move saying it is not only expensive to hire the Tsikamutandas as every household would be required to contribute financially, but also illegal. Said the headman:
The villagers have been complaining about this snake for quite some time now.
The law does now allow us to search people’s homesteads even if we suspect that they own the snake.
However, the chief said whoever has fallen prey to this snake should hire tsikamutandas to cleanse their homes.
It is not within my powers to let the tsikamutandas go door by door.