MASERU — There was drama at Kou Flats in Ha-Tsósane yesterday after a self-styled faith healer displayed a bizarrely garlanded object which he said was a snake he had captured in a client’s wardrobe.
The “snake”, which residents of the village failed to conclusively identify, had a hairy head and colourful beads tied round it.
Its tail resembled that of a python, according to eyewitnesses.
The faith healer, Thomas Ramaloko, said he captured the “snake” during an exorcism session on Monday at the home of one of his sick clients – only identified as Lejakane – in the neighbouring village of Ha-Mabote.
“I am close to the owner of the house who is very ill and cannot walk,” Ramaloko said.
“I was in his home praying for him when the snake just burst out of the wardrobe.”
Ramaloko, 40, said he took the “snake” to his residence at Ha-Tsósane “to inspect it and establish who exactly was bewitching his patient”.
This triggered a huge stir among residents.
“I am a prophet guided by the Holy Spirit,” Ramaloko told stunned residents.
“I first saw the snake in my dreams.”
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Ramaloko, who is from Polokwane in northern South Africa, said he has been working as a faith healer over the past 25 years.
He said this was his first time to see such a “snake”.
Ramaloko said he had to fetch his assistant, whom he claimed was endowed with special powers to handle snakes, from South Africa to deal with the “crisis”.
He said when the assistant arrived in Lesotho he wrestled with the snake but it entangled his hand.
He said the snake only let go of his hand after “constant prayers”.
Strangely, a news team from the Lesotho Times did not see any scars on the man’s hand to confirm his version of events.
But Kou Flats owner, Thabo Kou, was not amused.
Yesterday, he instructed his estate agent to kick out Ramaloko from the premises.
Belief in witchcraft and the supernatural is rife in Lesotho.