Of cursing father, bad debtor and enforcer baboons

29-year old Innocent Ndaruza of Nyanga is terrified after an unusual enforcer gang has come calling at his homestead demanding that he pays his dues.

Unlike the usual thugs, this gang has no weapons except their voices. Which would not be so scary if they were human.

Ndaruza says baboons are visiting him demanding the money he owes a local traditional healer Sekuru Chihwa who helped his Ndaruza's wife to conceive.

“Sekuru Chihwa charged me US$150 for his services. I was supposed to pay it over two months. However, I failed to do so because I lost my job a month after consulting Sekuru Chihwa.

“Months later when I raised the money, I went back to Sekuru Chihwa and tried to reason with him to accept my payment, but he refused, arguing that the time that his ancestors had given me had lapsed,” said Ndaruza.

“Sekuru Chihwa told me that I would have frequent baboon visits at my homestead. At times, one baboon comes but at times, it will be the whole troop.

“These unusual visitors sit in my yard and demand the money I owe Sekuru Chihwa. When it happened for the first time, I rushed to Sekuru Chihwa with US$200, but he refused to accept it.

“The baboons come to my homestead once a week in broad daylight and at night we hear voices of people singing that I should pay what I owe them,” he said.

Ndaruza said he now fears that his wife might suffer a miscarriage.

“I do not know how far Sekuru Chihwa will take this. I fear that my wife or the child she is carrying might not make it because the baboons and voices claim that they will take back what belongs to them, which in this case is the pregnancy,” he said.

Ndaruza’s neighbour and uncle, Mr Jack Ndaruza, said they also witness the baboon visits.

“What is happening at my nephew’s homestead is stranger than fiction. If you have not witnessed it, you will think that it is a lie. I saw one of the baboons with my own two eyes. They speak and it is frightening as I have never seen anything like this before” he said.

Ndaruza says that while sleeping, they hear voices singing outside shouting that he needs to pay what he owes Sekuru Chihwa.

When they go outside to check where the voices are coming from, they see no one, although the voices continue making the demands.

Ndaruza said for years, his wife struggled to conceive until they sought the services of Sekuru Chihwa. Soon after that, his wife conceived.

But the families troubles only shifted shape.

“My father has two sons and we both do not have children. I ended up marrying a second wife, thinking that my first wife could not conceive. She went through so many miscarriages.

“When I decided to consult Sekuru Chihwa, my brother refused to do so citing his religious beliefs.”

“Sekuru Chihwa told me that the person who was causing our problems would fall ill when my wife conceived. This came to pass as my father fell ill as soon as my wife became pregnant; he is still bedridden as we speak.

In an interview, Sekuru Chihwa attributed the mishaps to his mhondoro (ancestral spirits), saying they want to collect their dues from Ndaruza.

“I am only being used by my ancestral spirits. They are the ones who helped his wife to conceive. They performed a go back to sender to the person who was behind the family’s barrenness.

“It is true that this man approached me and we helped him. I told him to pay in two months, but he failed. He came back five months later with the money. Maybe he doubted my powers.

“I never asked him to pay consultation fees when he visited me for my services. I felt his pain, but he later reneged on his promise to settle what I charged him for the services,” said Sekuru Chihwa.

He said the US$150 that Ndaruza owes him had accrued US$300 penalties but he would forgive that the after media interest in the story.

“Since you have called me, I have forgiven him. I will intercede to my ancestors on his behalf so that they can give me the nod to accept his money. I will take the US$150 which I had charged him and we forget about the interest.

“I am doing this because you have approached me on his behalf, otherwise my ancestors were really angry with him for failing to honour our agreement. If you are still in touch with him, tell him that the money should be paid before the end of September. If he fails to do so, then it will be a lost cause,” he said.

Sekuru Chihwa added: “We are there to help people, and not scare or threaten them like what appears to be the case here. People should just honour their undertakings so that nothing of this sort happens.”