A 42-year-old Gweru man says his affair with a woman he later discovered was married has left him battling severe pain, swollen private parts and a mysterious illness he believes is runyoka.
Eddison Masokwedza, who lives in Woodlands and comes from Headman Chihwedza’s area under Chief Nhema in Shurugwi, says he met the woman while they were both selling various goods in Gweru town.
The two became close and began an affair, despite Masokwedza having a wife at home. He says the woman told him that she was single.
“I used to see this woman walking alone, so I proposed to her, and she accepted. She lied to me that she was not married. We started dating and sleeping together even though I had my wife at home,” says Masokwedza.
He says the relationship began in 2024 and was passionate in its early stages. However, after several months, he began experiencing burning sensations on the soles of his feet and across his body. His private parts also started swelling.
“Because of this illness, I sought help from various places, and I was told that I had contracted ‘runyoka’ from this woman. Prophets and traditional healers confirmed that she was a married woman,” Masokwedza explains.
He says he confronted the woman about the runyoka claims, but she denied having the condition and insisted that she was not married.
Masokwedza then began asking people who lived around them about the woman’s background. He says he discovered that she had a husband who was serving a three-year prison sentence in South Africa for illegal stay.
“I then started investigating among people we lived with and found out that this woman had a husband who was imprisoned in South Africa for illegal stay. The husband had been sentenced to three years in jail. Once this truth came out, the woman started avoiding me,” Masokwedza states.
The man says some traditional healers advised him to obtain the woman’s urine, mix it with traditional medicine and drink the mixture. However, he says the woman has since become unreachable.
“Currently, my stomach feels like it’s on fire, including the soles of my feet and my private parts. My private parts are swollen and sometimes retract into my stomach, causing pain. This is the ‘runyoka’ I was given by this woman,” says Masokwedza.
He says he has visited hospitals and received medication and injections for what doctors told him was gonorrhoea, but claims the treatment has not eased his suffering.
“Right now, my body has no strength, and my head aches terribly. Others trying to help me say only this woman’s urine will save my life, but I don’t know how to get it,” Masokwedza laments.
He says prophets and traditional healers also told him that he had a form of “fish runyoka”, which required him to spend long periods immersed in water.
Masokwedza later approached the woman’s relatives. He says they denied that she had runyoka but admitted that she was married.
“I eventually went to talk to the woman’s relatives, but they denied the story that she had ‘runyoka’. However, they admitted that she was married. My relatives and I went to the husband’s rural home, and we sat with the elders there, wanting to pay compensation, but they refused, saying they wanted to wait for their relative to return from prison, so we came back,” Masokwedza recounts.
He says his relatives were prepared to compensate the woman’s husband with cattle.
The husband was eventually released from prison and returned to Gweru. Masokwedza says he went to see him with his relatives to ask for forgiveness, but the request was not accepted.
“The husband was released from prison recently, and my relatives and I went to him to ask for forgiveness. All the husband could say were the words, ‘You destroyed my home.’ Regarding my request to be cured of ‘runyoka’, he said he knew nothing about it,” Masokwedza explains.
He says he also asked the husband and his relatives to help him obtain the woman’s urine for the traditional treatment he had been advised to take, but the request was rejected.
“The woman’s husband and his relatives said they had nothing to do with my illness and ‘runyoka’, as they claimed the woman I had an affair with did not have ‘runyoka’. They told me to deal with my promiscuity problem myself,” says Masokwedza.
Despite the affair and the conflict that followed, Masokwedza says the husband and his wife have continued with their relationship.
At his own home, however, he says the illness has destroyed his family life. He claims he can no longer have proper sexual relations with his wives because of the pain and has not told his wife about the runyoka claims because he fears she will leave him.
“The problem at my home now is that I can no longer have proper sexual relations with my wives due to the pain. I haven’t told my wife about this ‘runyoka’ issue for fear that she might leave me. We have three children,” Masokwedza reveals.
He says he is now unable to eat properly and struggles to use the toilet. He has warned other men against engaging in affairs with married women.
“I have suffered. I tell other men to abandon promiscuity; stay with your wives at home.
“Even if you see some women who claim to be separated from their husbands, stay away from them because you don’t know what they carry in their bodies. I am just waiting to die, honestly, because I have found no one to help me,” Masokwedza concludes.
He continues: “Sometimes I think of committing suicide, but then I think of my children and my wife. I have no one to cry to. My father passed away; only my mother is left.
“I appeal to those who can to help me.”
Traditional expert Jimson Nyasala, also known as Sekuru Kanengo, says runyoka can be cured if it is attended to promptly.
“But men should also be content with their wives,” he advises.
The case echoes another incident involving a Bikita man, Nelson Matupire, who said he suffered severe stomach pains and problems affecting his private parts after an affair with a married woman he met in Beitbridge. Matupire said he had been in pain for about 12 months and eventually moved into the woman’s home while seeking help from her husband.
He said the woman had reunited with her husband after their separation and that spiritual advisers told him she had been locked with runyoka, also known as rukawo. Matupire claimed that his symptoms became worse whenever he returned to his own home.
“If I go back home, the pain increases and its better if I am here that is why I am staying but there is nothing between us and we cannot risk another engagement since she is also suffering. I have been in and out of police custody as I often clash with the family,” he said.
A village head, Isaiah Zirumbwa Magadzire, said efforts were being made to assist Matupire, although the man he identified as the alleged perpetrator could not be found. Matupire slept in a separate room at the woman’s home, and the family warned the pair against intimacy.
Another Gweru businessman also became the subject of a runyoka-related case after he allegedly slept with a married woman whose husband had supposedly “fenced” or “locked” her. The businessman reportedly complained that termites had attacked his private parts and that his manhood disappeared whenever he wanted to have sex with his wife.
The runyoka debate has also been linked to the reported death of a 29-year-old Epworth woman, Chiyedza Luwizhi, who was popularly known as Chenai. She was involved in a long-term affair with a married man named Maxwell Chikwiramakomo from 2021.
After the affair allegedly came to light, the man’s wife, Memory Mondo, consulted Gogo Mamoyo, a traditional healer from the Seke area in Chitungwiza, who admitted to placing runyoka, also described as rukawo or a lula lula central-locking system, on Chenai.
Chenai later developed severe abdominal swelling, known locally as kuzvimba dumbu. Before her death, she confessed to the affair. Her family reportedly failed to raise the cattle and money demanded to remove the spell, and she eventually died after her condition worsened.
The cases have continued to fuel fear and discussion around infidelity, traditional beliefs and the consequences attached to relationships involving married people. Masokwedza’s relatives say they are still looking for help as his condition deteriorates.
For now, the Woodlands man says he is living with pain, fear and regret — and is urging other men to think carefully before entering relationships with married women.