Siblings beat-up brother’s lover in witchcraft row
Convinced she was using enchanted underwear to capture their brother’s heart, in an attempt to lift the spell, two siblings are accused of brutally beating-up his girlfriend, leaving her a badly-bruised mess.
Florah Nyamadzabo’s injuries are obvious as she lifts her shirt to display her battered body, revealing big, dark bruises she claims were inflicted by a knobkerrie wielded by a Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldier.
In an exclusive interview at her home in Mawana village, the 45-year-old told The Voice she was attacked on 16 October by her nurse boyfriend, Botshelo Goilwang’s siblings, naming his elder brother, military-man, Kethobogile Goilwang, as the main assailant.
Narrating her tale of pain, Nyamadzabo, who has reported the ordeal to Maun Police, revealed she has been dating Botshelo, 44, for close to a year, with the duo planning to marry soon. She has also completed the process to traditionally adopt his minor son.
It seems his family were less than impressed with the whirlwind romance.
Suspicious at how devoted Botshelo was to his new woman, doing everything she asked, the Goilwangs grew convinced the ‘blind attraction’ was down to witchcraft.
According to Nyamadzabo, they accused her of stealing her partner’s underwear, placing it in a pot as a ‘muti charm’ to control him.
She reveals the recent attack was the culmination of a prolonged campaign by the siblings to disrupt the relationship.
Although they are neighbours, with the Goilwang family farm located next to the couple’s homestead, Nyamadzabo says they have not been on talking terms for months.
She said the rift started as verbal abuse, including being called an ‘old woman’ for being a year older than Botshelo.
This intensified when the couple announced their intention to formalise their union and following the adoption.
Nyamadzabo said the insults took a new twist earlier this month, when she received a text message from her fiancé’s aunt, accusing her of bewitching Botshelo and stealing his underwear to bury them as a charm.
The message reportedly threatened that if Botshelo died, Nyamadzabo would ‘follow suit’.
Two days after the exchange, Kethobogile and his sister reportedly turned up at the couple’s farm, demanding Botshelo’s and his son’s clothing.
“When they arrived, the sister said, ‘we have come to see you’ and I kept quite because I have already been told by some people that they said they were coming to beat me up. She then repeated angrily, ‘we have come to pick up our brother whom you have bewitched and made him to do as you say without question. You have made him stop listening to us.’ At that moment I stood up because I wanted to pick something from the car, suddenly the brother took a wooden knobkerrie and hit me with it,” she alleged, wincing at the memory.
Nyamadzabo says the beating continued without mercy, with Kethobogile allegedly screaming, “O a telela (you are disrespectful), as he repeatedly wacked her.
“His sister joined in, slapping me and accusing me of being a witch.”
The beaten woman claims the siblings then dragged her by the hair, again demanding she surrender their relatives’ clothes.
“They said they had visited traditional doctors who confirmed I was controlling their brother with muti,” sniffed Nyamadzabo, dismissing the witchcraft talk as rubbish.
When contacted for a comment, Kethobogile freely admitted to beating Nyamadzabo but refuted using a knobkerrie, insisting he used a stick.
“I beat her because she was insulting us,” the soldier explained without remorse.
He maintained they had gone to the farm to fetch Botshelo for a scheduled meeting with their uncle regarding the son’s adoption, but ‘the woman’ did not want him to go.”
Kethobogile further accused Nyamadzabo of maltreating his nephew, claiming she makes the boy sleep on the floor and also overworks his brother on her farm.
Keeping calm in the centre of the storm, Botshelo refuted his siblings’ claims, reiterating his love for Nyamadzabo.
He dismissed talk of witchcraft and child abuse as false, saying such lies would not change his feelings for her.
“They were wrong to go to traditional doctors and did whatever they did with my name. I did not send them there and I have told them to stop making false accusations against my woman because that is not going to change my love for her,” he stated.
Botshelo confirmed he encouraged Nyamadzabo to file the police report and questioned his family’s recent interest in his life, stating he has been taking care of his son without their input since 2022.
The matter has been confirmed as a police case expected to go to court soon.
