Daily Sun (April 9 2014) - FOR SEVEN years Sivuruvuru thought his special chicken had been run over by a car.
But on Thursday his daughter confessed her terrible sin to her father.
"FORGIVE ME DADDY, I ATE YOUR CHICKEN," SHE TOLD HER FATHER.
"I was pregnant in 2007 and I was craving meat. I had no money and this chicken was running around the yard so I grabbed it and ate it."
Then Thandeka Lamani (24) burst into tears.
She told Daily Sun she felt guilty after eating the chicken. "That is why I lied to my father. I told him his special chicken was hit by a car. Since then my father has been very worried and ill. He always asked me what happened to the chicken but I kept lying to him."
But the dead chicken is now haunting Thandeka.
"Since eating the chicken I have become an alcoholic. I fight with my boyfriend every weekend and once I was arrested for shoplifting. People don't want me near them because they think I am a thief and my three-year-old son suffers from terrible eczema," she said.
"My guilty conscience tells me it is because of my father's chicken," she said.
"I am so sorry. This chicken was very special to my father."
The chicken was not only special to her father, it was a well-known and special chicken to the entire community.
Velisile "Sivuruvuru" Lamani (68) is a famous inyanga from KwaNonqubela, in Alexandria, near Port Alfred.
Sivuruvuru (which means "shake things up") told Daily Sun: "I always thought my chicken was killed by a car but today I am shocked and disappointed to find my daughter ate my chicken.
He said because of his chicken he never lost a court case.
"The people call me Sivuruvuru because of the work I did with that chicken," he said
"Wathabatha, my white hen, was a gift from the ancestors."
He said he is deaf and partially blind but Wathabatha was his eyes and ears.
"I would put her on my head or my shoulder and walk with her to the court where she would inspect the yard," he said.
"If she cackled twice it was a sign that there was an evil person in court. If she cackled three times it was a sign that I would need strong muthi to win the case."
He said it is possible for him to forgive his daughter.
"But she must buy me another white chicken to replace Wathabatha. We will keep the chicken in the village for breeding," he said.
See the Daily Sun mobi site for more on this and other stories....
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