Tsholotsho Villagers Attribute "Mysterious" Ailment Afflicting Learners To Goblins
Tsholotsho villagers say a mysterious disease has left about a dozen schoolchildren unable to walk.
The villagers suspect the children are being attacked by goblins (alleged supernatural beings thought to be malevolent to people.)
According to a B-Metro report, the attacks have been happening since March this year and the affected children are from Magama Mission Primary School which is located in Ward 13 of Tsholotsho District in Matabeleland North province.
Ntulani village head Vincent Hadebe said the victims of the attacks are between the ages of five and 15 years. He said:
There are about 12 children who are affected by this condition and what happens is that when it starts, the children convulse as if they are being choked by unknown creatures. This makes them feel weak and unable to walk.
These attacks mostly happen when the children are on their way to school or coming back home. We suspect that these goblins that attack the children are located someplace along the way to school because the affected children are all day scholars.
This started in March and this condition affects children between the ages of five and 15 years. The children are scared of going to school and some of our intelligent children failed to write their end-of-term examinations due to this problem.
At first, we were taking the victims to Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo for treatment but all our efforts were in vain as none of them barely recovered.
We then sought permission from our traditional leaders to invite traditional healers for assistance.
Traditional healers who visited the area to get rid of the problem claimed to have recovered strange creatures that include snakes, monitor lizards, human waste, a baboon and three monkeys from a number of homesteads.
Hadebe said that there are eight victims who are currently recovering. He added that the learners have started going back to school while four of them are still affected.
Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education communication and advocacy director Taungana Ndoro said:
We have not received any information regarding the case in that particular school. However, we usually receive such cases and we use a multi-sectoral approach.
This is through engaging the traditional leaders and the head of the school to assess the situation as we do not have the expertise to deal with such matters.
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