BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE THERE was drama at the Harare Magistrates Court yesterday when the door to an office where the docket of 108-year-old traditional healer, Elias Godknows Zinyemba, was being kept jammed, resulting in all court cases being postponed.
Zinyemba was recently arrested for extortion together with his daughter Pamela Zinyemba and nephew Newlife Magona.
He is refusing to attend court and has been issued with a warrant of arrest.
There are also reports that police officers investigating the case were involved in an accident.
Yesterday, the door of the office where his docket was being kept and was opened after five hours. A carpenter had to be called in to remove the top window louvers to access the room and unlock the door from inside.
All court cases pencilled for 8:30am to 1pm were postponed to later dates.
Zinyemba was arrested in November last year for extortion after he allegedly defrauded unsuspecting clients of US$7 000 in a goblin (tokoloshe) cleansing ceremony.
The complainant is Josephine Edith Nyakujara of Chikomba, who was told by the traditional healer that there were goblins tormenting her family and were demanding blood and required a cleansing ceremony to avoid deaths in her family.
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The traditional healer then demanded cattle, a house in Harare and a vehicle to return the goblins to their owners.
The complainant advised her uncle, Douglas Chiendambuya, about the issue, and the uncle revealed that he had been advised by one Justice Muzungu that his late father Stuart Muzungu was once conned when he visited Zinyemba’s shrine. The matter was then reported to the police, resulting in the arrest of the traditional healer and his assistants.
- Follow Desmond on Twitter @DChingarande1
