LUCY PHIR writes
A 60 -YEAR OLD woman of Meanwood in Lusaka has sued her two nieces in the Chelstone Local Court for calling her a witch but the warring parties were later reconciled.
Mercy Chibeka, 31 and Miriam Chibeka, 29 of the same area have been sued by Elizabeth Mwansa for compensation for defamation.
Mwansa told Presiding Magistrate Mary Namangala that she was just hearing a rumour from people that she was a witch.
The other day she took vegetables to Miriam who refused to take the gift because she did not know what was in them.
“At one point the two sisters came to my house that we should talk, and Miriam complained that she doesn’t live well and said that a Prophet told her that I am the one bewitching them in the family,” she said.
She said Miriam further said that she lost her job and her husband left her for no apparent reason.
“I am the one who has been keeping them ever since they were young but now they are calling me a witch. We have tried to involve church but nothing happened, I want to make peace with them hence my coming to court, she said.
And her husband Philip Mwenya, 73, said he also heard rumours that his nieces went to the Prophet who told them that their aunt (Mwansa) was a witch and they even followed her to the house wanting to talk to her.
In defence Miriam told court that her aunt stopped talking to her without any concrete reasons and even stopped picking up her calls whenever she called.
“I then decided to go to her house with my sister so that we know where we went wrong for her not to pick up our calls and not greeting me whenever I meet her at church,
“But as we talked to her, she threw herself on the ground and starting crying that we had called her a witch which we did not. We only went there to make peace with her,’’ she said.
Mercy too denied ever calling their aunt a witch, insisting that the two of them went to Mwansa’s house to ask for forgiveness since they wondered why she wasn’t talking to them not even picking up their calls or visiting them,” she said.
Upon hearing from both statements, the claim was dismissed because there was no sufficient evidence and further the warring parties were reconciled and advised to live in harmony.
