The Sunday Mail
Emmanuel Kafe
A Zishavane Sibanda family feud made headlines last year.
Family members were accusing their father of witchcraft and causing several deaths in the family through ‘cursed’ beer.
These three siblings — Litania, Bridget and Innocent — were accusing their father of brewing ‘cursed’ beer.
The issue came to light, when the trio was taken to court by their father, Jonas Sibanda, for disturbing his peace. The father urged the courts to punish his children.
Sibanda further accused the three siblings of deliberately spilling his brew and flushing 40 kilogrammes of finger millet down the toilet to prevent him from making more. Only one of Sibanda’s children was siding with him.
But, the three siblings told the court that their father’s wicked ways were well-known in the Nyama Business Centre environs.
They even claimed to have sought Chief Mapanzure’s permission to prevent their father from brewing the ‘cursed’ beer.
The trio claimed that their mother and two sisters had lost their marbles, while a lot of family members had died due to the old man’s alleged witchcraft.
The strange occurrences were all suspected to have been linked to Sibanda’s brews.
Concerned, Sibanda’s children are said to have consulted prophets.
Sibanda then directed them to a witchdoctor in Matopo Hills, where they were surprised to hear a voice coming from a rock.
“We went to visit a witchdoctor in Matopo Hills and we were shocked to hear a rock talking. The rock said our father had failed to carry out the instructions that he had been given. lt said this was the reason why our family members were dying mysteriously,” one of the Sibanda siblings said, the stone also instructed Sibanda to stop brewing beer.
He could only do so after three years.
After the stone’s instruction, Sibanda’s children decided to dispose of his ale.
The things that our courts have to deal with, phew!
But, if the courts needed a precedence in terms of how to deal with cursed booze cases, they probably went back to look at the operations of Union Distillers in Pluckley, England.
In the Guinness book, Pluckley is referred to as England’s most haunted village, which distils ‘evil spirits gin using possessed apples’.
It is alleged that each bottle is individually cursed by Ms Julianne White, a professional witch, during October’s full moon.
lf Sibanda is actually brewing the cursed beer and wants to expand his business, he may contact Ms White.
Then there is Boone Country Distilling in Kentucky, United States of America, which makes a white whiskey distilled from bourbon mash.
The whiskey is called Tanner’s Curse.
The founder of the city built it on a native American graveyard, something that is blamed for the death of his sons and the eventual demise of the city and the original distillery.
Whether you believe in curses or not, drink responsibly.
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