“Evil spirits” paralyse classes in Gondola – Watch

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“Evil spirits” paralyse classes in Gondola – Watch

2:50 CAT | 10 Jul 2019

The girls reportedly set the school director's car on fire. [Photo: O País]

About 2,000 students missed class at the Mazicuera Secondary School in Gondola, Manica province, this Monday because of alleged activity by evil spirits.

The O País team, which arrived at the school thirty minutes after the incident, established that two girl students “in delirium” were the cause of the stoppage. They had set fire to the school director’s car, destroyed computers assigned to administrative staff, and damaged other school infrastructure.

A school security guard called Maringuè described how sad and dramatic this “rare phenomenon that manifests itself in students” was.

“This is sad. They showed up with machetes that they took from the centre (of the school) and started smashing the windows of the director’s car, and then set it on fire,” he said. “Then, they went into the office and started breaking computers and windows.”

Image result for MoÃ§ambique: Meninas dizem estar possuÃdas por espÃritos em Manica

The mayor of Gondola, who, when he took up the position of district director of education last year, directed a ceremony aimed at curing deliriums in students, blames evil spirits who are threatening the educational process at the school.

“Parents and caretakers will make some monetary contribution so we can exorcise the evil spirits in this school, and restore calm to the students,” Arlindo Ngozo said when asked if the municipality had funds to cover the expense of warding off evil spirits.

As our reporting team left the school, the director, who had fled to safety, reappeared in the company of the president of Manica provincial assembly, Rosita Lubrino, and other staff members of the provincial and district governments, and went to surrender to the supposed spirits in a ritual we were not allowed to photograph.

The Voa report below, adds that the girls were asking for wine and tobacco while ‘possessed’ and that later a ‘curandeiro’ [traditional doctor] was called to sort out the matter.