RELIGIOUS leader based in Kuwadzana, Harare, Madzibaba Ekedi Mawodzwa, is being accused of being part of a gang which killed ELEVEN of his relatives at his shrine in his bizarre pursuit of absolute spiritual powers.
The case is being heard at Chief Makope’s traditional court in Zambara Village, Chiweshe.
Madzibaba Ekedi, who is being accused of using seven of his lieutenants in the murderous spree, has denied killing his relatives, including his nephew, whose body was mutilated before he was killed.
Madzibaba Ekedi and his gang are said to have gone into hiding when Chief Makope ruled that the police should be involved because these were murder cases.
The gang allegedly tied up Madzibaba’s nephew at his shrine in Kuwadzana and they mutilated him, with Madzibaba allegedly cutting off a portion of his buttocks, collecting his blood in a bottle and then proceeding to perform rituals with the blood.
He has denied all this and claims he was only trying to help him.
“I did not kill him, but rather I was helping him to get better because he was sick,” he said.
According to the traditional court submissions, things took a turn for the worse when the spirit of his late nephew possessed a member of the Mawodzwa family.
The spirit was demanding the return of the blood which it claimed Madzibaba Ekedi and his accomplices had allegedly shed in that murder.
“My spirit is not at rest, I want my blood back,” the spirit would say.
“He tied me and forced me to drink some juju from a bottle.”
The Mawodzwa family sought help from Madzibaba Cloud Chifamba who told them he could only help them in the presence of a chief.
The family then consulted a sangoma in their village who also referred the matter to Chief Makope during the cleansing ceremony.
