Village head orders stoning of ‘marriage wrecker’

A Zimbabwean university lecturer has dragged a traditional leader to court for accusing him of proposing love to married women in Chigodora.

Ranganai Njodzi, a Computer Science lecturer at a local university, is accused of destroying marriages in the peri-urban area of Chigodora and pampering the wives with chickens.

The lecturer is also accused of assaulting the women’s husbands and leaving them for dead.

This was revealed recently after Njodzi dragged Village head Gosho whose real name is Denford Zimunya to Headman Chigodora’s court.

Njodzi accused Gosho of soiling his image in the community through what he described as unfounded allegations he said.

Gosho called for a meeting at his homestead and told the gathering that I was a marriage wrecker and robber.

He instructed the people to attack me with stones and I now fear for my safety because these people are baying for my blood.

They no longer want me in the area because of the instructions they got from their community leader, yet I am not a marriage wrecker.

He has tarnished my image in the community. I work at a local university and some of my students stay in the area. They no longer respect me because of the allegations. This man (Gosho) hates me, a reason why he wants to destroy my good social standing.

Njodzi challenged Gosho to bring forward witnesses who can confirm that he had proposed love to married women.

Gosho said he had witnesses, adding that the husbands and their wives refused to attend the court out of fear of victimisation.

He said: I have witnesses. He is in the habit of proposing love to married women and pampers them with chickens.

When the women’s husbands confront him over the issue, he assaults them.He even stripped naked one of the husbands before assaulting him. The man fled and hid in the graveyard.

The village head said he was about to expel Njodzi out of his area saying he doesn’t accept marriage wreckers.

However, Headman Chigodora criticised Gosho for tarnishing Njodzi’s image before establishing the truth.

He said: Instead, after hearing the allegations, you hurriedly convicted Njodzi in his absence and ordered people to stone him. You were wrong and should rectify your mistake.

We do not know whether he is womaniser or not, but he needs to be given a chance to present his side of the story.