Tension is mounting at the Tshiwangamatembele Secondary School at Ha-Rammbuda, Dzimauli, following the discovery of a mysterious letter in which the writer allegedly confesses to committing acts of witchcraft at the school since January 28 this year.

According to the school principal, Ntsundeni Mudzielwana, the problem started with two grade 12 children who were complaining about their eyes. “During school periods, these children would go out to wash their eyes. Sometimes they would sit under the trees while their eyes were running with tears,” says Mudzielwana. During that time, nobody understood what was happening, but they got a clue when a letter of confession was found on the school premises.

The letter, which was found by another learner during afternoon studies, was given to a matric class teacher, Eric Maalakano.

“After reading the letter, I decided to share the letter with our principal the following day, together with the rest of the staff,” says Maalakano.

In the handwritten letter, which was addressed to a friend of the author, the writer confesses to bewitching the two learners through their schoolbooks that were stolen from one of the learners’ school bag. The letter also reveals that the other learner whose book was found in the bag of the targeted victim was bewitched by mistake. The author also revealed in the letter that she was scared when she saw the untargeted victim at the church, because she was afraid that the girl was going to be prayed for.

The victim who was allegedly bewitched by mistake has since left the school for another school at Nzhelele.

The targeted victim revealed that the alleged author approached her and made a direct confession. “She told me that they did not intend to bewitch my friend, but I must tell her that they are not going to reverse the situation as it is impossible. What is going to happen is that your friend is going to have a psychological problem,” she was told.

Since then, the school management have invited pastors, health officials from Mutale and the police, but no solution has been found. Instead, a third learner has been affected and she has not been coming to school since then. The principal, Mudzielwana, says they also approached police and the magistrate’s office of Mutale where they were told that they were not going to get assistance, since cases of ritual practices could not be proven. Even the district office of the De-partment of Education has failed to come up with a solution to the problem.

Now the school management, who confirms that they fear for their own lives, together with those of the children, are appealing to anybody who can help solve their problem as it is affecting their learning programme and commitment.

“We must admit that this problem is frustrating us. We now appeal to anybody who thinks he/she can help us,” says Mudzielwana. The principal says an incident of this nature once happened to the same school some years back.

The spokesperson for the Department of Education in Limpopo, Ndo Mangala says: “We feel pity for the learners and teachers, but unfortunately I cannot comment on the issue of witchcraft.”