A school teacher from Chipinge has slapped Chimana Secondary School Development Committee (SDC) and village heads with a $5 million defamation lawsuit after they accused her of satanism.
The plaintiff, Mercy Mutando, has since approached Chipinge Civil Court accusing the Chimana SDC led by Tafara Sithole, and village head, Walter Mushavanhu, and other 12 members of the community for labelling her as the ring leader of a satanism cult at the school.
According to the summons which have been brought before the court, Mutando claims that she lost her dignity in the community as everyone accused her of initiating students into satanism.
Mutando revealed that as a result of the unfounded allegations by the defendants, her name was tarnished all around the world.
“My name was tarnished and was all over the social media because of the unfounded allegations raised by the defendants. They gave false information to the District Schools Inspector, police and Chief Mapungwana that I was responsible for the mysterious happenings that were reported at the school.
“I was disturbed by these allegations, and my employer had to transfer me to another school since my life was in danger at the school,” she said.
Mutando was embroiled in a Satanism storm in April after pupils and teachers claimed that they were seeing snakes in the classrooms.
Manica Post reports that the bizarre happenings caused some students to collapse and some fell into a trance.
As a result of the satanism scare, three school inspectors were sent to the school and the school was temporarily closed.
Meanwhile, Mutando was transferred to Musani Secondary School after the Chimana SDC and the community rejected her, labelling her a satanist.