Witchcraft, Power And Politics: Exploring the Occult in the South African Lowveld (Anthropology, Culture and Society)

264 Pages·2001·10.18 MB·English

by  Isak Niehaus (Author)

WITCHCRAFT, POWER
AND POLITICS
Exploring the Occult in
the South African Lowveld
ISAK NIEHAUS
WITH ELIAZAAR MOHLALA
ANDKALLY SHOKANE
David Philip
CAPE TOWN
P
Pluto Press
LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA
First published 2001
by PLUTO PRESS
345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
and 22883 Quicksilver Drive,
Sterling, VA 20166–2012, USA
www.plutobooks.com
Published in Southern Africa 2001
by David Philip Publishers
208 Werdmuller Centre, Newry Street,
Claremont 7708, South Africa
Copyright ©Isak Niehaus 2001
The right of Isak Niehaus to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Niehaus, Isak A. (Isak Arnold)
Witchcraft, power, and politics : exploring the occult in the South
African lowveld / Isak Niehaus, with Eliazaar Mohlala and Kally Shokane.
p. cm. — (Anthropology, culture, and society)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0–7453–1563–1 (hardcover) — ISBN 0–7453–1558–5 (pbk.)
1. Witchcraft—South Africa. I. Mohlala, Eliazaar. II. Shokane,
Kally. III. Title. IV. Series.
BF1584.S6 N54 2001
133.4'3'0968—dc21
00–012646
ISBN 0 7453 1563 1 hardback (Pluto)
ISBN 0 7453 1558 5 paperback (Pluto)
ISBN 0 86486 379 9 (David Philip)
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for the publishers by
Chase Publishing Services, Fortescue, Sidmouth EX10 9QG
Typeset from disk by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton
Printed in the European Union by TJ International, Padstow, England
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
Notes on Terminology xi
Acronyms xiv
Maps xv
1. Introduction: Exploring Witchcraft, Power and Politics 1
2. Society, Cosmology and the Making of Witchcraft: Continuity
and Change in the History of Green Valley, 1864–1995 16
3. Witches of the Lowveld and their Familiars: Conceptions of
Duality, Power and Desire 45
4. Witchcraft and Whites: Further Notes on the Symbolic
Constitution of Occult Power 63
5. Witches, Cognates, Affines and Neighbours: The Changing
Distribution of Witchcraft Accusations 83
6. ‘A Witch Has No Horn’: Social Tensions in the Subjective
Reality of Witchcraft 113
7. Witch-Hunting and Political Legitimacy: Chiefs, Comrades
and the Elimination of Evil, 1930–1989 130
8. The ANC’s Dilemma: The Symbolic Politics of Four
Witch-Hunts in the 1990s 156
9. Conclusion: Witchcraft and the Postcolonial State 183
Appendix A:Fieldwork Revisited 194
Appendix B:Public Perception Map of South Africa 199
Appendix C:The Witchcraft Suppression Act No. 3 of 1957 200
Appendix D:Details of the Alleged Witches Violently Attacked,
Green Valley, 1971–1985 202
Appendix E:Details Pertaining to the Victims of Witch-Hunts
Organised by the Comrades, Green Valley, 1986–1989 203
Appendix F:Details of those Accused of Witchcraft, Green Valley,
The Christmas Witch-Hunts, 1990 204
Appendix G:Details of those Accused of Witchcraft, New Lines,
Arthur’s Seat, October 1993 206
Appendix H:Details of those Accused of Witchcraft, Rooiboklaagte,
November 1994 207
v
vi Witchcraft, Power and Politics
Appendix I:The Witchcraft Control Act as Proposed by the
Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and
Ritual Murders in the Northern Province of the
Republic of South Africa 208
Notes 210
References 228
Index 241
LIST OF MAPS
1. South Africa xv
2. Northeastern South Africa, Including former Bantustan Territories xvi
3. Northeastern South Africa xvii
4. The Wider Bushbuckridge Region, Indicating Villages xviii
5. The Wider Bushbuckridge Region xix
6. Green Valley, Including Village Sections xx
LIST OF TABLES
2.1 Green Valley’s Churches According to Years Founded and Adult
Membership, August 1992 32
2.2 Diagnosis of the Underlying Causes of Clients’ Problems
by Sebongile Ndlovu and Ketebotse Mogale, Green Valley,
February 1992 41
5.1 The Relationship between those Accused of Witchcraft and their
Accuser(s), Green Valley, 1960–1995 89
5.2 The Relationship between those Accused of Witchcraft and their
Assumed Victims, Green Valley, 1960–1995 90
5.3 The Relationship between the Assumed Victims of Witchcraft
and their Accuser(s), Green Valley, 1960–1995 91
5.4 The Relationship between Plaintiffs and Defendants in Cases
Brought Before the kgoroof the Setlhare Chief and Headmen,
Green Valley, 1991–1995 92
5.5 The Marital Status of Adults in Sampled Households by Gender,
Green Valley, 1991–1992 101
5.6 The Employment Status of Adults in Sampled Households by
Gender and Marital Status, Green Valley, 1991–1992 101
LIST OF CASE STUDIES
1.1 The Headman’s Wife 3
1.2 The Headman’s Son 4
Contents vii
3.1 The Sexually Promiscuous Neighbour 54
3.2 The Troublesome Father-in-Law 55
3.3 The Café Owner and the Mamlambo 59
3.4 The Happy Widow 60
5.1 Affines, Inheritance and Witchcraft 99
6.1 Lebo Mnisi: Illness, Marital Strife and Dreams 117
6.2 Sarafina Maatsie: Deviance and the Tenacity of the Witch Label 118
6.3 Sam Makola: Genealogy and Mysterious Deaths 121
6.4 Albert Nziane: Dreams and Self-Confession 123
6.5 Harry Chiloane: Rumours of Resurrection 125
7.1 The Killing of a Poisoner 143
7.2 Assaulting a Witch 144
LIST OF FIGURES
5.1 The Domestic Situation of Asa Mogogodi 99
7.1 The Genealogy of Chief Setlhare’s Predecessors 134
8.1 The Domestic Situation of Prudence Maluleke 172
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As the research and writing of this book has extended over a decade, the number
of people and institutions who have given valuable assistance towards its
successful completion are literally legion. Here, I can mention but a few of
those to whom I am indebted.
Selecting lowvelders to whom to offer explicit thanks is a difficult task.
Kindness, patience, hospitality and helpfulness were general to the hundreds
of people with whom I had dealings. I wish to thank the former director of the
University of the Witwatersrand Rural Facility (WRF), John Gear, and his staff
for facilitating my research. Eliazaar Mohlala and Kally Shokane are superb
hosts, expert research assistants and my most valued friends. I am also very
grateful to others who aided my work as informants and in countless other
ways. They include the late B. Chiloane, Enios Chiloane, chief Nkotobona
Chiloane, Philipina Chiloane, ‘doctor’ Gumede, Trafi Maatsie, Elmon Machate,
Freddy and Joyce Makhubela, Justice Malatsi, Phileon Malapane, John
Malathole, Harry Maluleke, Valley Mapaile, the late ‘doctor’ Marule, Seshieng
Mashego, Doris Mathebula, ngwa Modike, Elphas Mogale, Alec Mohlala,
MacDonald Mokgope, Caswell Mokoena, Timothy Monareng, Milton Morema,
Lakios Mosoma, Sabina Ndlovu, Jabulane Nokeri, Sidney Nyathi, Nelson
Sekgobela, Willias Sekgobela, Exom and Girly Shokane, Meita Shokane,
Daniel Thobela, Eric Thobela, Feita Thobela and Nana Tlou. I hope that in
some way this book may contribute to preserving the history of this part of the
lowveld for their descendants and towards realising their aspirations to build a
prosperous country in which mis-understanding, intolerance, violence and fear
knows no place.
I also wish to acknowledge the contributions of Peta Katz, Edwin Ritchken,
Graeme Rodgers and Jonathan Stadler. As fellow researchers in the lowveld
they kindly shared their information with me and shaped the development of my
research.
Many individuals assisted me during the trying task of writing up the book.
I especially wish to thank Adam Kuper who supervised the original PhD thesis
on which this book is based. Adam provided intense intellectual stimulation,
expert comments on the drafts of chapters and, along with Jessica Kuper,
selflessly accommodated me during my stay in London. I am also extremely
viii
Acknowledgements ix
grateful to Peter Geschiere, Suzette Heald, Patrick McAllister and Richard
Wilson who read and commented upon the entire manuscript.
I presented drafts of successive chapters as seminar papers to the Department
of Social Anthropology and the Institute for Advanced Social Research at the
University of the Witwatersrand (Wits); Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Cape Town; Department of Anthropology, Yale University;
Department of Human Sciences, Brunel University; Department of Anthro-
pology, Venda University; Council for the Development of Social Research,
Dakar; and to the American African Studies Association and the Association for
Anthropology in Southern Africa. I thank all participants for their insightful
comments, criticism and encouragement. It is again difficult to select individ-
uals for whom to offer explicit thanks. I none the less feel obliged to mention
Russel Alley, Leslie Bank, Gina Buijs, Dianne Ciekawy, David Coplan, Jim
Campbell, Gotfried Dederen, Peter Delius, Don Donham, Stuart Douglas,
Ronald Frankenburg, David Gellner, Carolyn Hamilton, David Hammond-
Tooke, Deborah James, Prudence Mnisi, John Middleton, Ras Niehaus, Murray
Last, Tom Lodge, Justine Lucas, JoAnne Pannell, Patrick Pearson, Graeme
Reid, Hal Scheffler, John Sharp, Karen Shapiro, Owen Sichone, Jan Simpson,
Andrew Spiegel and Charles van Onselen. I am grateful to Carla Lodge for
skilfully preparing the maps.
Most of all I wish to thank my parents, Anita and Hennie Niehaus, to whom
I dedicate this book, for their unfailing love and support throughout the years.
I also thank Elaine and Victor Katz, and Lorraine and Paul Thiel, for feeding
me in Johannesburg.
Financial support was provided by the Human Sciences Research Council
(Centre for Science Development) and by Wits University. Funding from the
latter institution included a University Council grant; financial support for
sabbatical leave by the office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs;
and allocations from the Department of Social Anthropology’s research
incentive scheme. The views expressed in this book do not reflect those of the
funding bodies.
Because my project has spanned some years, some of my observations have
already found their way into print. Earlier versions of chapters two, three and
six were published as ‘Christianisme, apartheid et genese de la sorcellerie dans
le Lowveld Sud Africain’, in Veronique Faure (ed.) Dynamiques religieuse en
Afrique australe, Paris: Karthasla/CEAN, pp. 207–38, 2000; ‘Witches of the
Transvaal Lowveld and their Familiars. Conceptions of Duality, Power and
Desire’, Cahiers d’ Études Africaines, XXXV (2–3), 138–9, pp. 513–40, 1995;
and ‘“A Witch Has No Horn”: The Subjective Reality of Witchcraft in the
South African Lowveld’, in Patrick McAllister (ed.) Culture and the Com-
monplace: Anthropological Essays in Honour of David Hammond-Tooke,
Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press, pp. 251–78, 1997. My articles
‘Witch-Hunting and Political Legitimacy: Continuity and Change in Green
Valley, Lebowa’, 1930–91, Africa, (63), 4, pp. 137–60, 1993; and ‘The ANCs
x Witchcraft, Power and Politics
Dilemma: The Symbolic Politics of Three Witch-Hunts in the South African
Lowveld’, African Studies Review, (41), 2, pp. 93–118, 1998, summarise some
findings from Chapters 7 and 8.
Isak Niehaus
Hatfield, Pretoria
NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY
Colloquial, official, vernacular and analytical terms play a major role in this
book and must therefore be carefully defined. Owing to the nature of my
arguments, the truest definitions of terms are left to the main text. For easier
reference, however, I provide a basic definition of some colloquial and official
terms, a glossary of vernacular terms used more than once in the text and a list
of abbreviations.
COLLOQUIAL AND OFFICIAL TERMS
African, black and white Former South African legislation classified the
country’s population into four main categories as Black, Coloured, Asian and
White (cf. West 1988). The former three have been officially described as non-
white, but many people thus classified prefer the generic reference black, which
is how I have used the term. I use the term African to describe the category
designated Black (previously Native or Bantu) in legislation. I do not use them
to imply support for any system which classifies people in racial terms for
purposes of political discrimination.
baas(Afrikaans: ‘boss’). A term used to denote employers and sometimes white
male persons in general.
BantustanNo term used to describe the Bantustans/homelands/national states
is politically neutral. I have used the term Bantustan because it most clearly
reflects rejection of the policy of creating separate political-geographic entities
for different categories of the South African population.
ComradesNationally used to denote supporters of the liberation movements.
In the lowveld the term was used to include almost any youth who was seen to
support the liberation struggle.
currency Prices are expressed in pounds sterling (£) until 1961, when the
Union of South Africa became a Republic, and in South African rands (R)
thereafter. The rate of exchange was £1 = R2 until devaluation of the pound in
1967, and fluctuated through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The value of the
Rand has declined sharply against many other currencies in recent years. On
26 April 2000 the exchange rate was £1 = R10.65 and US$1 = R6.70.
ipimpi(Zulu). Used by supporters of the liberation movements to refer to ‘sell-
outs’, reactionaries and police informers.
xi
xii Witchcraft, Power and Politics
marula(pl. marulas). The deciduous tree Scerocarya birreacommon in the
hotter parts of South Africa. Its fruit, also known as marulas or marula berries,
is used for making jam and jelly and for making beer.
ndumba(Tsonga). Small round, thatched-roofed homes built specifically for
the ancestors and alien spirits to dwell in. Nearly all diviners and herbalists treat
their clients in ndumba.
psyanga(Tsonga: ‘rebel’). The name of a youth gang from Acornhoek.
rondavelA round, thatched-roofed home.
shebeen (Gaelic: ‘small house’) An illegal private house of entertainment
selling beer and liquor.
sjambok(Afrikaans: ‘whip’, verb sjambokked). Usually manufactured from
rhinoceros or hippopotamus hide or from strong plastic.
xirwalo(Tsonga ‘bring beer’). A ritual visit by a man’s affines. Also denotes
the beer and presents brought by the affines.
GLOSSARY OF NORTHERN SOTHO TERMS
Unless specified otherwise, all vernacular terms in the text are in the Sepulana
dialect of Northern Sotho, as spoken in the lowveld.
bonyatsilong-term, extramarital love affair.
bjanggrasses used for thatching.
difekaan affliction caused by the transgression of seniority rules. As a conse-
quence women are unable to bear children.
dumainnate, natural, desire.
fisˇaheat and pollution.
go loma‘to bite’, rite of the first fruits.
go hlaola‘to select’, a fine paid by the progenitor of a child to free himself of
any paternal obligations.
hlabologilengcivilisation.
ila(pl. diila) taboo.
kgoro(pl. dikgoro) a ward or moot/court of a chief or headman.
kgosˇi(pl. magosˇi) chief.
lehufaenvy and jealousy.
lekgowa(pl. makgowa) white person.
lesˇakoreeds for manufacturing mats and thatched grass.
letsˇwasehlare placed on a corpse which causes the witch or killer to die in a
similar manner as his or her victim.
maatlapower, strength.
madi a magolo‘big blood’, an ailment.
mafulara an affliction caused by the transgression of funeral rules. Its
symptoms include chest pains and profuse coughing.
maitshwarovirtuous conduct and character.