The life of Credo Mutwa

Photo: Credo Mutwa [Picture: Credo Mutwa foundation, Facebook]

Credo Mutwa was born in the then Zululand on the 21st July 1921. According to Mutwa’s writings when his father met his mother, he had just lost his wife and children “in a terrible influenza epidemic, which had spread through Southern Africa, killing thousands of people in the years 1918 and 1919”. His father was a widower with three surviving children. Mutaw’s father was a builder and a Christian, and his mother a Zulu Woman who practiced the ancient religion of the Zulu people and as a result “the white missionaries forbade my father from marrying my mother until she became a Christian”.

Mutwa writes that “Caught between Catholic missionaries on one hand, and a stubborn old Zulu warrior on the other, my mother and father had no choice but to separate”. As a result of the religious and traditional disputes Mutwa did not attend school until he was 14 years old, this was also because his father’s building profession which prevented the family from staying in one place for a longer period. As a result of his father’s work Mutwa writes about a horrific experience I his life: “In 1935, my father found a job, a major building job, in the Transvaal and he brought us all from Natal to join him where he was building. I attended school on and off in different schools, and then, in 1937 I went through great shock and trauma, when I was seized and sodomized by a gang of mineworkers outside a mine compound. This caused me to be ill for a long time. And although I was taken to white doctors, I could find no help until my father’s brother, the same one who had taken me away from my maternal grandfather decided to take me back to my mother’s village in the hope that I would find help there. And I did”.

It is after this experience hat Mutwa realized his calling of becoming a traditional healer, after he had been told by his grandfather that he has a spiritual journey he was take. “It was here that I began to question many things that I never questioned before. Where our ancestors really the savages that quiet missionaries would have us believe they were? Were we Africans really a race of primitives who possessed no knowledge at all before the white man came to Africa? These and many, many other questions began to haunt my mind. And then one day when he was sure that I was fully returned to health, my grandfather told me that the illness that had been troubling me for so long, had actually been a sacred illness which required that I had to become a shaman, a healer. And when the old man said this to me, I readily agreed to undergo initiation at the hands of one of my grandfather’s daughters, a young sangoma named Myrna”.

If a strange thing was happening in the place that I happened to be, I became one of those who were summoned to that place to help using Africa’s ancient wisdom and knowledge in that situation. I found myself amongst amazing and strange people. I found myself amongst men and women, possessing knowledge that was already ancient when the man Jesus Christ was born. I heard stories from the lips of storytellers that went back to the remotest of the remote times. Stories that very few had ever heard before.

In 1975 Credo Mutwa got permission and funds to build the first living museum, which he described its purposes as “the preservation of my people’s knowledge, religion and culture”. Following the murder of his son by black political "activists" and the second burning of his village, Credo moved away from Soweto and developed a cultural tourist village in Lotlamoreng, Mahikeng, (known at that time as Bophuthatswana). Here he supervised the building of small cultural villages, each representing the traditional cultures of the main South African tribal peoples “I am a sculptor, who has created large sculptures in various parts of South Africa. I am a painter who has painted pictures that were afterwards stolen from him, by exploiters. I am the writer of books, whose books fill the pockets of others with money, and nit his own. That is Credo Mutwa”.

ORTHODOX ACCOUNTS OF AFRICAN HISTORY

Picture: The most common depiction of the begging of South African history. (Photo: thesouthafricanhistorypodcas).

France and Britain were two largest colonial rulers in Africa, these two “super powers” controlled over 70% of Africa after World War one. The mid 1800s to the early 1900s marked the pinnacle of imperial rule in Africa. The establishment of colonial control over Africa was accomplished at the Berlin Conference of 1884–1885, fourteen European countries held a conference and discussed how they would take land from the African people and divided it among themselves. Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained free from colonial rule.

Colonialism started by undermining traditional African authority by means of introducing the corrupt chieftaincy structures in African societies with the sole aim of alienating Africans from their culture and from one another. The system had aimed to destroy African cultures and values by means of “the imposition of alien religions and the relentless attack on African values mounted by mission schools contributed to a mentality of ennui and dependency and to the loss of confidence in themselves, their institutions, and their heritage.”

We have for a long time consumed inaccurate lessons of history all over Africa as a result of imperialism. Orthodox accounts of the African history particularly South African history before the colonial period are staged around “wars of Shaka” as they are frequently referred to as. Shaka has been and unfortunately continues to be portrayed as “the archetype of despotic African king who ruled a highly militarised kingdom.” The battles which took place in the 1820s have been portrayed as resulting to the formation of tribal territories in South Africa which unfortunately continues to manifest in South African societies at present. However since the 1980s new lines of thinking have slowly challenged much of this depiction.

It is important that we remember a factual argument that Leonard Thompson makes a book titled The History of South Africa when we want to quote or refer to our history, that during colonialism particularly the British rule in South Africa, many “historians” followed an imperialist mode of reference in all aspects our history. The British produced works that only consisted of their interpretations and perspectives and subsequently the Afrikaners laid the foundation of an “exclusive, nationalist historiography.” During the apartheid regime authorised the literature and selected a group of favourite publication in the “settler and Afrikaner nationalist traditions” of the earlier era.

In the mist of transformation or the correct recalling of our history, we should always think within the broader context of imperialism. The history not to be misrepresented is that:

World war one saw the “the scramble for Africa”. This vexatious impudence for Africa is defined as “The process of the invasion, occupation, and domination of African territory by European powers” particularly between 1880 and 1914. In 1884-85 an event that obstructed and changed natural life in Africa took place in Berlin. Fourteen European countries held a conference and discussed how they would take land from the African people and divided it among themselves. Only Ethiopia and Liberia remained free from colonial rule. It is the discoveries of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 in South Africa amplified the potential Africa has and that lured the colonialists to the continent.

The Department of Higher Education’s catalytic project has previously announced to release dynamisms in research on the pre-colonial history of South Africa as a project of going “beyond conventional modes of thinking rooted in colonialism and apartheid.” This project was meant to produce literature which is largely edited by a group of historians and archeologists at the University of the Witwatersrand and supported by an inclusive advisory group of scholars from the University of Cape Town. The project was set to include teachers, lectures and students as the core readership. While this is move is undoubtedly somewhat ground-breaking, how far have actions such as these of the Department of Higher education been successful?

CHANGING THE ROLE OF WOMEN

Picture: The Founder on Bontlebame NPO Kea Modise Moloto. (Photo:KeBontlebame)

Women’s access to political power and decision-making positions has increased since 1994. Provincial structures have been established to address gender issues within the provinces. For example, in 2000, there were 8 of 27 female Ministers and 8 out of 13 Deputy Ministers in the national government, 30% of the Members of Parliament and 24% of Members of Provincial Legislatures. This number has changed to over 24% of female representatives in national government. However, women are still under represented in the local government with just over 19% of women as local councilors. Statistics on employment rates show that there is a very large difference between women and men and between black and white women in the job markets. Black women continue to have poor access to paid employment and when they get access they, have lower incomes and less security than all men. White women remain largely dominant among employed women. These and many other challenges are faced by ordinary South African women and organisations such as Bontlebame exist to defeat these afflictions.

Bontlebame NPO in its statement addressing the celebration of Heritage month encouraged South Africans to partner with it against the everyday challenges faced South African women and girls. The organisation appealed with all South Africans to join it in conjoining “women’s rights, freedoms and growth with the celebration of the African and South African heritage”. Founded in 2010 and based in Pretoria, Bontlebame is a Non-Profit Organisation which launched with hosting the inaugural 1st Dinner against the abuse of Women and Children in 2010, it went to grow its reach largely through Facebook, the annual events against abuse of the vulnerable and the launch of its programs (Mothers events, Girls of Hope Workshops and the Bikers Ride Against the Abuse of the Women). The NPO’s platforms and initiatives “have been successful in driving positive, progressive, constructive, inspirational and meaningful messages against abuse and poverty and their related effects.”

The organisation is set to embark on an awareness campaign on its digital platforms in line with its mission to “curb abuse of the vulnerable, inspire disadvantaged women and children to aim for better” because it claims believes that it is only society that can change society. The digital campaign will run for five weeks from the second week of September 2017. The public is encouraged to make any form of donations to the organisation by going on the website. The NPO uses some of the fundraised to support other women oriented organisations and programs in the country according to the statement.

The statement by the organisation acquiesces that “Bontlebame understands women as central to the revolution, culture, religion, peace, growth, economy and other imperative elements of a successful society in the world”. The organisation is thus dedicated to the development of ordinary South African women and girls, the founder of the NPO submits that it “refuses to accept that which is ugly – rape, beatings, children going to bed without food, or having no access to education.” The organisation aims to reach and engage with the disadvantaged and disempowered women in the country, it acknowledges that “factors which influence the usage of technology may make it a challenge for the organisation to be effective in a widespread manner” however it will take any opportunity to make a contribution to the well-being of society positively contribute to society will make a difference.