IN the last episode of our discussion on African spirituality, we demonstrated that ‘defamation’ is equivalent to a weapon of mass destruction used by Western imperialist countries to destroy the integrity of African institutions such as culture, religion and the leadership (spirit mediums, chiefs) to facilitate colonisation.
We identified Western Christian churches as the primary perpetrators of the defamation campaign against African spiritualand cultural independence under the guise of preaching the word of God.
Yet the Africans already know and worship the Creator, Musikavanhu/uMlimu.
Who are these church people trying to fool?
The Christian missionaries have succeeded to mislead the majority of African populations to abandon their own culture even language and religion to imitate the whiteman.
The pretensions to white culture are so poor that Africans look like sad caricatures of Europeans.
But we happen to know that the European imperialist leaders at the Berlin Conference in 1884-85 which partitioned Africa, mobilised and deployed missionaries to destabilise African societies as part of the colonising crusade.
King Leopold of Belgium who brutalised the Congolese, killing and maiming millions, never pretended that Africans were to be converted to God.
He instructed missionaries to use the Bible to teach Africans to hate themselves, their culture and religion!
Once the Africans had lost their spiritual independence and links to the Creator, then Europe could loot them at will.
The people could no longer draw strength to resist from Musikavanhu, their God, because they had been forced to abandon their religion.
They struck at the core of African independence, their spirituality.
They preached the Christian gospel as an alternative to African religion.
Using the assumed authority of the Bible, which they deliberately misinterpreted in order to demonise African religious and cultural institutions, the white colonisers through their churches, carried out a relentless assault on African spiritual independence.
The assault has continued until today, with myriad of so-called Christian denominations and other religious sects all seeking to isolate the African from his religious and cultural roots.
Most Africans especially in urban settings have lost their spiritual independence and sheepishly flock to church services, Bible study groups and endless prayer meetings to receive the Western Christian religious message.
The Christian message is consistent in one respect: demonisation of all aspects of African spirituality, culture and religion.
The Christian message is defamatory to the person, culture and spirit of the African.
Once the African loses his spiritual identity and independence, he is ripe for spiritual slaughter.
He can be massacred, enslaved, tortured and abused in every possible way without the whites feeling any sense of guilt.
Such are the devastating effects of defamation.
Some have argued that defamation is not criminal!
What can be worse than destroying someone’s good standing in society?
Defamation is diabolical; it cannot be justified in any circumstances.
Maybe in Roman-Dutch and English law!
Are those not the laws being used to deny Africans their spiritual, social and economic independence?
But we digress.
Let us go back to the ngozi theme as it relates to our colonial situation.
We showed how the white colonialist invaders provoked a ngozi backlash on themselves when they defamed and murdered our Great Ancestral Spirits such as Kaguvi, Nehanda, Mukwati and butchered thousands of innocent Zimbabweans.
The Chimurenga Liberation War, a direct result of the ‘awakening’ of Mbuya Nehanda’s bones, is the ‘ngozi’ that tormented the whiteman until he paid restitution by surrendering power to the rightful owners of Zimbabwe, the Africans.
Our struggle for economic independence represents the same ngozi spirit fighting for restitution of the plunder of African resources by Europe.
In this week’s discussion we shall begin on the various ways of paying restitution to appease a ngozi spirit.
In the case of our European colonisers and the murderers of our Great Ancestral Spirit mediums, our Chimurenga Wars are the ngozi pursuing the white invaders until full restitution: restoration of our lands and spiritual sovereignty.
What of the ngozi spirits that constitute the African justice system?
Let us look at examples.
The ngozi spirit emerges after the death of the wronged person.
For the benefit of those of our readers who may be unfamiliar with events associated with a ngozi spirit in action, we shall recount a few incidents from real life for illustration.
We begin with the case of a man who used to torment his sick wife, refusing to even touch her and eventually abandoning the matrimonial home to cohabit with a so-called ‘small house’ or second wife.
When she eventually died, the man bought an expensive coffin and all the relatives and in-laws gathered for the funeral.
The ‘shadow’ or ‘mumvuri’ of the dead wife then appeared next to the coffin before the corpse could be placed in it.
In African custom, the appearance of the shadow or ‘bvuri/mumvuri’ of a dead married person means the deceased person was grossly wronged by the spouse while still alive.
It is the sign confirming the presence of a ngozi spirit.
In this case, the relatives asked the husband of the dead woman to ‘confess’ to whatever crime he had committed against his wife.
He did not, and the bvuri continued to stand by the coffin.
Relatives present contributed money enough to buy one cow to pay ‘restitution’.
A close relative then pleaded with the dead that restitution had been paid in the form of a cow.
Still the spirit of the dead woman stood as a ‘bvuri’ by the coffin.
As the stakes continued to rise, eventually the clan made contributions and brought in 10 live cattle.
After further pleas and some honest admissions and gestures by the husband, the spirit’s shadow gradually went down and disappeared.
Acceptable ‘restitution’ had been paid and the burial then went ahead.
This is an example of a ngozi spirit striking right after death, but before burial.
This phenomenon is particularly common where either spouse grossly wronged the deceased party.
We see here that relatives contributed to payment of restitution; they did not abandon the husband to his fate because the ngozi spirit will come knocking at every relative’s door.
If there is refusal to pay restitution the spirit can cause many deaths in the family, striking at different branches of the extended family and even affecting the sons-in-law (vakwasha).
Often the culprit family member remains unaffected as the ngozi spirit takes its toll among family members.
We can see that the ngozi spirit forces families to take responsibility for the actions of members.
This is in stark contrast to western European culture of individualism.
In African culture, the family or clan is a collective unit where all members are responsible for each other’s proper behaviour.
Here we witness a spiritual dimension of the African which enforces community responsibility.
That is why in African society, every child belongs to all the parents in a given community or extended family.
All adults must take responsibility for the good upbringing of the children.
That is the spirit in which a ngozi pursues all clan members.
There is collective responsibility.
That is very African.
We shall look at other ways in which the ngozi spirit can be appeased in the next episodes.
It is generally accepted in African society that the best way to appease a ngozi spirit is to meet its demands in full.
How is this done?