Witchcraft, Power And Politics: Exploring the Occult in the South African Lowveld

by Isak Niehaus, Eliazaar Mohlala, Kally Shokaneo

Overview

This is an extraordinary contemporary account of witchcraft and
witch-hunting in the modern world. A powerful ethnographic study of
witch-hunting in 1980s South Africa - a period of rapid social change with the dismantling of apartheid and the reinstating of the ANC - this book demonstrates the extent to which witchcraft must be seen, not as a residue of 'traditional' culture but as part of a complex social drama which is deeply embedded in contemporary political and economic processes.

Isak Niehaus provides the context for this fascinating study of witchcraft
practices. He shows how the witchcraft was politicized against the backdrop of the apartheid state, the liberation struggle and the establishment of the first post-apartheid regime all affected conceptions of witchcraft.
Niehaus demonstrates how the ANC and other political groups used witchcraft beliefs to further their own agenda. He explores the increasingly conservative role of the chiefs and the Christian church. In the process, he reveals the fraught nature of intergenerational and gender relations.

The result is a truly insightful and theoretically engaged account of a
much-studied but frequently misunderstood practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745315638
Publisher:	Pluto Press
Publication date:	05/20/2001
Series:	Anthropology, Culture and Society Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.32(w) x 8.47(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Isak Niehaus is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION: EXPLORING WITCHCRAFT, POWER AND POLITICS

Early ethnographic studies of the Tsonga and Northern Sotho-speaking inhabitants of the areas now comprising the Northern Province of South Africa do not portray witchcraft as particularly problematic. Junod (1966:534) recorded only one witch execution among the Tsonga at the turn of the century and writes that chiefs usually fined witches a few goats or £1. Krige and Krige (1965:250–71) document 50 witchcraft accusations among the Lobedu in the 1930s and note that witches were forced to leave the area only if they were suspected of having harmed a number of people. Sansom (1972) observed that during the 1960s witchcraft accusations, in the full sense of public denunciation, hardly ever occurred in Sekhukhuneland; whilst Hammond-Tooke (1981) insists that traditional cosmologies among the Kgaga of the lowveld emphasised pollution rather than witchcraft.

In stark contrast to these accounts, witchcraft accusations and the killing of suspected witches has reached alarming proportions in recent years. An official investigation, headed by Victor Ralushai, documents 389 witchcraft-related killings in the Northern Province between 1985 and 1995 (Ralushai et al, 1996). In one episode alone, during April 1986, members of the Sekhukhuneland Youth Organisation 'necklaced' 47 alleged witches. Police uncovered their corpses in pits and in bushes. A man told reporters how he had seen his wife burnt to death while her young assailants sang 'freedom songs'(Sunday Times, 20 April 1986).

The study of witchcraft has always been a staple topic in anthropology, but anthropologists have remained remarkably silent about witchcraft in contemporary South Africa. Our basic knowledge of witchcraft in the Republic still depends on chapters in the holistic studies of particular ethnic groups, such as those by Junod (1966) and by E. and J. Krige (1965), written chiefly in the 1930s and 1940s. Whilst these works contain sensitive descriptions of indigenous beliefs, they are largely devoid of theoretical analysis. Witchcraft is simply treated as a peculiar feature of local cultures. Only a few essays have been devoted to theoretical discussions. The predominant anthropological concern in South Africa has been the analysis of politics, economics and the predicaments engendered by apartheid (Gordon and Spiegel, 1993). Witchcraft was deemed to be a component of religion, somehow removed from these concerns and unworthy of serious scholarly investigation. Anthropologists have also sought to contrast the inhumanity of apartheid with the humanity of dominated people. It was possibly feared that representations of seemingly illogical beliefs and violence could augment the racist stereotypes held by the dominant white minority.

Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork conducted since 1990 in Green Valley – a village situated in the Bushbuckridge district of the South African low-veld – my monograph attempts to break this silence. Green Valley has a rich and varied history. Since the passage of the 1913 Native Land Act the area was set aside for the exclusive occupation by Africans. During the era of apartheid, Green Valley formed part of the Bushbuckridge Native Reserve, and later of the Lebowa Bantustan. In 1994, with democratisation and the disestablishment of all Bantustans, Bushbuckridge was transferred to the newly established Northern Province. Today Green Valley is sub-divided into eight residential sections and has an estimated population of 20,000. Official identification of the village with the Northern Sotho Pulana belies its ethnic and linguistic heterogeneity. Residents also include Roka, Pedi, Kone, Kgaga and Lobedu (Northern Sotho); Hlanganu and Shangaan (Tsonga); Ndebele and Swazi.

The central concern of this study is to provide a detailed ethnographic and historical account of the escalating fears of witchcraft. Theoretically, I use the rich body of literature on witchcraft elsewhere in Africa, and also in Melanesia, to illuminate the local situation. But I also draw on my fieldwork to reflect critically upon some assumptions of the literature. I specifically aim to investigate the connections between three different dimensions of witchcraft: cosmological and symbolic formulations of witchcraft as a type of mystical power; patterns of witchcraft accusations and their significance in the domestic domain; and the involvement by political actors in witch-hunting. In short, I treat witchcraft in relation to symbolic system, social structure and political action.

CHANGING WITCHCRAFT

My fieldwork in Green Valley lends credence, at the micro-level, to the general observation of an increasing regional concern with witchcraft. Elderly informants insisted that there were once only a few witches in Green Valley, but these were well-known and witchcraft was often tolerated as a legitimate form of revenge against enemies and thieves. Only when witches killed innocent victims were they regarded as malefactors and fined a specific number of cows. But even then, witches were hardly ever assaulted, expelled or executed. These elders believed that anxiety about witchcraft has grown in recent times and certainly, during the course of my research, virtually any person might be suspected of practising witchcraft. Moreover, there is now no tolerance of witchcraft. All forms of witchcraft, including vengeance magic, have come to epitomise evil. Public witch-hunts and the violent punishment of witches are commonplace.

These changes are captured by the very different experiences of ngwa ('from', 'daughter of) Mokgope – who was accused of witchcraft in the 1950s – and those of her son, Aaron Mashile, who suffered the same fate two decades later. My discussion of these cases is based on the recollections of their kin and neighbours.

Case 1.1: The Headman's Wife

In 1955 ngwa Mashile – who was a widow and the sister of Ben Mashile, the headman of the Kgapa Madi settlement in Green Valley – planned to host a feast at which she would divide her cattle amongst her two sons. In preparation for the feast she went to brew beer at her brother's home on the northern outskirts of the village. Ngwa Mashile returned in the dusky hours of the early evening, but fell down as she was about to cross a river stream. People who lived nearby recalled hearing her screams, but did not investigate because it was already too dark. Early the next morning a boy notified elders that he had discovered ngwa Mashile's corpse. At ngwa Mashile's burial some of her relatives speculated that witch-familiars (dithuri) might have beaten her to death.

Two years after this traumatic event Edna Siboye – Ben Mashile's daughter-in-law – became pregnant and returned from her work in Nelspruit to give birth at his home. Edna's child died only one day after its birth. She recalled, 'There is an olden method that stillborn babies have to be buried in the corner of the house. The elderly women buried the baby's corpse before sunrise and covered the hole, nicely, with cow dung. Early in the morning I found a small hole in the ground. I was surprised and suspected that a rat had come out from the ground. That night we put two snares near the hole. To our surprise the snares were not there in the morning. They had been taken away. Because we suspected something strange we called the baruti [Zion Christian Church ministers] to fortify the home. The next morning we caught the rat ... In the day we heard dogs barking outside our home. They barked furiously and pursued something which climbed up a maroela tree ... Children told us that they had seen a bush baby [nganaka-lla] in the tree. This monkey-like creature is the size of a hen. Its hind legs are like those of a dog, but its forearms are like those of a human being. Although it has a tail and fur on its body, its face is clean like that of a human being. It also makes the sound of a human baby. The witches keep bush babies and send them on errands during the night. Maybe they sent it to kill my child.'

Edna asked her father-in-law, Ben Mashile, who was the headman of Kgapa Madi, to consult a witch-diviner (mungoma) to find out what was wrong. 'Although we insisted, Ben was reluctant to go. He refused! Because of this we suspected that he was the witch and that the creature [bush baby] belonged to him.' Eventually Ben conceded to the demands of his own kin and accompanied ngwa Mashile's sons to a witch-diviner in Phundu Malia, near Venda. Upon their return to Green Valley, ngwa Mashile's sons informed the chief (kgosi) and their neighbours that the diviner had beaten Ben on the knee. This meant that Ben was not a witch, but that his first wife – ngwa Mokgope – was responsible for the deaths at their home. The chief instructed her to compensate ngwa Mashile's sons with four head of cattle.

This procedure allayed the curiosity and fears of Kgapa Madi's residents. A neighbour explained: 'Because she was fined and exposed she was not expelled from Green Valley. Nothing else happened to her.' Few informants doubted ngwa Mokgope's guilt. They recalled that before her death the old woman was completely insane. There were even rumours that she once told others: 'children's livers are very tasty'.

Case 1.2: The Headman's Son

When Ben Mashile died in 1975, his son Aaron returned from the Witwatersrand, where he had worked as a migrant labourer, and was installed as Kgapa Madi's new headman. Aaron was already middle-aged by then.

Shortly after Aaron's return many deaths occurred amongst his kin. Ngwa Mashego (Ben's second wife) died in 1978. In the late 1960s and 1970s four of ngwa Mashego's sons (Aaron's half brothers) passed away. One son died mysteriously after he had been circumcised, two died after they started coughing and the fourth son, Simon, was knifed to death by his best friend, Lekgowa. This incident was truly mysterious: whilst drinking beer the two friends inexplicably started quarrelling and fighting. The other deaths were those of Aaron's two paternal uncles, his mother's brother's son, sister's child, sister-in-law and his sister's two children.

The remaining members of Ben Mashile's second house publicly accused Aaron of witchcraft. Ngwa Mnisi, Aaron's sister-in-law, explained the reasons why she suspected witchcraft as follows. 'We could understand that some deaths, such as those of my father and mother-in-law were natural. But not all the deaths! They occurred too frequently. They were untimely and unnatural! People were dying like flies – every three months or so. The one after the other.' Ngwa Mnisi recalled that whilst ngwa Mashego was terminally ill, the old woman screamed, 'Here is a horrible thing. It has come to suck my blood!' 'She said the creature was the size of a 25-litre water container. It had no mouth, nose nor ears. It was very large and resembled a worm in its movements. The thing sucked her blood without leaving any marks on her body.'

Ngwa Mnisi herself had an uncanny experience when she dug soil at the spring early one morning. 'Just across the spring I saw a very horrible person. It was a pitch-black man who seemed to be naked. He had long, uncombed, hair. The thing was very close range. I wanted to scream, but withheld and just continued walking. I was frightened, rigid and dumb. I stood still for a long time. I did not collapse, but all my senses were completely gone ... From afar I saw two boys sitting on a fence. I called them and asked whether they had seen anything, but they said "No. We saw nothing." I then proceeded to dig the soil and asked the boys to accompany me home. That evening I dreamt that my grandmother came towards me with a bucket full of water. She was angry and shouted, "This can't be my grand-daughter". She then poured the water over me. I immediately awoke. I was confused and very tired. I believe that my grandmother came to save me ... Maybe the pitch-black man was a witch-familiar or a zombie that came to fetch me. I really don't know where it came from.'

In 1979 the Mashile family assembled to discuss the course of events and decided to take Aaron to a witch-diviner. For this purpose they collected an amount of R1 from all households in the neighbourhood. Upon their return the delegates relayed to a large crowd that the witch-diviner had told them that Aaron kept a snake, which glowed at night and ate the members of his father's second house. When the crowd instructed Aaron to confess, he reportedly said, 'The witch-diviner told me that I got dihlare [herbs] from two dingaka [healers] to strengthen my headmanship. He said the dihlare is horrible and no good. Maybe it changed into a glowing snake.' A fierce argument erupted amongst the crowd. The descendants of Ben's second house were furious and wanted to kill Aaron. But Aaron's former work-mates protected him, saying that the witch-diviner had lied and that Aaron was an innocent victim of malevolent dingaka. Eventually they reached a compromise: Aaron would not be killed, but he would be expelled from Kgapa Madi after he had discarded the dihlare. Aaron took the crowd to a spot in the corner of his yard where he had allegedly buried the dihlare. Men dug a hole of almost a metre deep with picks, spades and shovels, but failed to reveal anything. At this point one of Aaron's halfbrothers drew a knife, but others prevented him from stabbing Aaron. Aaron then took the men to his gate, where he started digging by himself. Eventually Aaron produced, what was described to me as, 'beautiful stones sculptured as cats' and 'twigs which seemed like dihlare'.

Men then took Aaron to a dam in the Motlasedi river. They forced him to enter the water until it reached waist level and to discard the stones and twigs. The next day Aaron was removed and started to build a home in the open forest near Mapalene. His former neighbour approvingly remarked, 'After Aaron left nobody died here for quite a while. This shows that he was responsible for all the deaths in our settlement.'

In Mapalene, Aaron was still accepted as headman. But in the late 1980s Aaron's new neighbours also started complaining about his presence amongst them. This is after his brother-in-law and own daughter died from tuberculosis. Also, during the course of 1990 three residents of Kgapa Madi committed suicide: a young man shot himself and two adults hanged themselves in their rooms. According to rumours witches had painted tombstones in Mapalene's graveyard to prevent the shadows (seriti) of the deceased from troubling them. Aaron – whose responsibility as headman included taking care of the graveyard – was an obvious suspect.

On 4 January 1991 Comrades [ANC Youth League members] convened a meeting at the Mapalene sports ground to discuss the tragic events in their village section. By collecting donations of R20 from amongst the attendants, they raised R4,000 to finance a trip to a witch-diviner. The next day Comrades Witchcraft, Power and Politics forced Aaron and 30 other suspects to accompany them in a bus heading for Mbuzini, near Swaziland.

In Mbuzini the witch-diviner forced all suspects to sit in two straight lines with their legs outstretched. Men sat in front, the women behind them, and the Comrades stood in the rear as witnesses. The witch-diviner then beat all those whom he could identify as witches behind their necks with a switch and pulled them by their legs into the shade of a large fig tree. Here six people confessed that they were messengers of witches and the diviner washed them with dihlare that would drive them insane if they ever again attempted to practice witchcraft. He then revealed how the nine 'witches' who refused to confess had practised their craft. As a leader of Mapalene's witches, Aaron reportedly kept baboons and turned children into zombies to work in his garden at night. The other witches were alleged to have kept zombies, baboons which killed people and the ape-like tokolotsi which raped people at night, and to have placed dihlare in the footpaths of their victims.

The bus returned to Green Valley on Sunday afternoon and took all witches to the police station where they could be protected from harm. But on Monday, 6 January, ANC leaders asked the station commander to release the witches. Along with those who had been accused of witchcraft in other village sections, the ANC leaders took Mapalene's witches to the Green Valley sports ground, where well over a thousand people had assembled. Jaques Modipane (then MEC for Finance in the Mapumalanga Province) pleaded with the crowd not to kill the witches. 'We don't want any more unnatural deaths', he said, 'but we should not kill the witches. What will happen to their families when they are killed? Their children, who have to attend school, will suffer the most.' Modipane then commanded the witches to fetch their dihlare from home and to burn it in front of the crowd. But this measure did not allay the crowd's anger. Some attendants became raucous and tried to assault the witches. Hence the ANC leaders were compelled to return them to the police station for safekeeping. But a large section of the crowd followed the bus and shouted slogans against witchcraft at the police station gates. From here the notorious Mankweng 'riot squad' of the Lebowa Police brutally dispersed them with batons, teargas and rubber bullets.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "Witchcraft, Power and Politics"
by .
Copyright © 2001 Isak Niehaus.
Excerpted by permission of Pluto Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Notes on terminology

1. Introduction: Exploring Witchcraft, Power and Politics

2. Society, Cosmology and the Making of Witchcraft: Continuity and Change in the History of Green
Valley, 1864-1995

3. Witches of the Lowveld and Their Familiars: Conceptions of Duality, Power and Desire

4. Witchcraft and Whites: Further Notes on the Symbolic Constitution of Occult Power

5. Witches, Cognates, Affines and Neighbours: The Distribution of Witchcraft Accusations, 1960-1995

6. 'A Witch Has No

Editorial Reviews

An ethnographic study of witchcraft in contemporary South Africa, where witchcraft accusations and the killing of suspected witches appear to be escalating. Niehaus (U. of Pretoria) draws on fieldwork conducted since 1990 in Green Valley, a village with a population of 20,000 in the South African lowveld. The study shows how witchcraft was politicized under apartheid, and how the struggle for liberation and the establishment of the post-apartheid state have also affected conceptions of witchcraft. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews