The Sunday Mail
Gokwe folklore has always been the stuff of legend, competing with tales from Chipinge and Guruve in the realm of Zimbabwe’s stranger than fiction.
We have heard of women riding hyenas, people disappearing in mountains and owls carrying dogs far larger than them.
And now the Midlands town has brewed another tale: this one as tragic as it is true.
Located in Jahana village deep in central Gokwe is a woman who nine years ago lost every strand of hair on her body – and none of it has grown back since.
Naturally, theories abound, with the dominant one being it’s all part of the family’s get-rich juju.
It is a theory that has been fuelled by her husband and in-laws’ continuous refusal to seek a doctor’s opinion on her sudden and sustained hairlessness.
She has become a freak for some, with little children mocking her and adults staring at her unashamedly as she walks about.
While on another assignment The Sunday Mail Extra caught wind of the story and paid Thokozani Mpofu a visit.
“I have been in this condition for a long time now and while it bothers me, largely due to the mystery of it all and the attention, I have learnt to deal with it. It all started some nine years ago when I woke up one morning with a small portion of my hair missing. I looked a bit strange walking around with hair missing on a section of my head and so decided to remove it all.
“When it did grow back, it became stranger as I only grew hair on the sides of my head.
“The third time I removed my hair was to be the last time I saw any hair on my body as it never grew back,” says Mrs Mpofu.
Initially, she tried to hide her condition by covering her head and avoiding public places.
“Because of the condition my head and body was always covered and it is not an easy thing to do.
“I am a woman and when we went out for village meetings I would see other women tying their hair but I did not have anything to tie,” she says.
Unfortunately, this is not something that a person can hide for long.
“I am now tired of people coming to my house asking about my condition as if I have committed a crime. Some have even offered me money just to see how bald I really am. I am just so tired now,” she sighs.
There has been no scientific explanation for her condition for the simple reason that she has never seen a doctor about it. Neither has she seen a traditional healer.
This is for the simple reason that her husband and in-laws have allegedly stopped her from doing so.
Headman for the area Mr Evathini Moses Sihwede said all attempts to help her had been unsuccessful because of family objections.
“We have since become enemies with her husband and in-laws because I have repeatedly tried to intervene by inviting specialists to look at her, but all they have done is accuse me of spreading the news of Thokozile’s ailment to everyone in Gokwe. This also includes inviting the media,” he said.
Headman Sihwede said the in-laws were once successful farmers but ever since the matter came to public light, things have started changing: they no longer have bumper harvests.
Some within the community strongly suspect that close relatives took her hair and used it in a charm to enhance their farming success in a process commonly know in Shona as “divisi rekurima”.
Other villagers say she only lost her hair soon after she got married.
Her husband, Mr Sefero Ncube, brushes aside all these claims and suspicions. He says they sought help from a Christian group in Bulawayo and the situation had improved.
He said he had not barred traditional healers from “cleansing’’ the homestead, instead pointing out that he could not afford what these people charged for their services.
“The condition has been like this for a long time, but we have people praying for us in Bulawayo.
“We do not need a spiritual healer to do this and will solve this situation by ourselves as a family.
“When the village tried to conduct a cleansing ceremony, I did not have money to contribute . . . so is that a crime?
In fact the whole invitation was targeted at me and was not necessarily aimed at helping my wife per se,” he says.
Chief Njelele of Gokwe says the matter has come before his courts.
“For nine years this woman has not grown any hair, but when she went into this marriage, everything was normal.
“Relatives from her side are the ones who brought the matter to my courts seeking help over her condition.
“Allegations are that she was bewitched and now she has three children and still she has no hair.
“Her complexion is beginning to change,” says Chief Njelele.
“I summoned her as well as her in-laws, but she did not show up because she feared losing her marriage.
“We told her that she cannot hide the condition for long, she needs to get help, but she seems as if she has been receiving threats from the husband not to get help.”
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