The High Court of Zimbabwe sitting at Gweru has sentenced Chipiwa Majasi (43) of Village 3, Kugutakurima under Chief Mposi in Mberengwa, to 10 years’ imprisonment for culpable homicide after a traditional tongue-incision procedure she performed on a one-year-six-month-old child resulted in the child’s death.
In a statement, the National Prosecuting Authority of Zimbabwe said two years of the sentence were, however, suspended on the condition of good behaviour, resulting in an effective eight-year custodial sentence.
The child, Ruvarashe Mafikeni, died at Runyararo Complex, Vanguard, Mberengwa, on the 5th of March 2026.
At approximately 7 am, the now-deceased’s mother invited the offender to the family residence to perform a traditional incision procedure intended to address the child’s ‘speech problem ‘.
The offender used a razor blade to cut the lower membrane of the child’s tongue before leaving the residence.
The child subsequently fell asleep and was later discovered without signs of life at approximately 2 pm.
She was taken to Mberengwa District Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The matter was subsequently reported to the Police, leading to the offender’s arrest.
A post-mortem established the cause of death as hemorrhagic shock, sublingual artery laceration, and tongue injury.
 of Village 3, Kugutakurima under Chief Mposi in Mberengwa){kind=link}