Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa /ˈkreɪdoʊ ˈmʊtwə/ (21 July 1921 – 25 March 2020) was a Zulu sangoma (traditional healer) from South Africa. He was known as an author of books that draw upon African mythology, traditional Zulu folklore, extraterrestrial encounters and his own personal encounters. His last work was a graphic novel called the Tree of Life Trilogy based on his writings of his most famous book, Indaba my Children.[1] In 2018 he was honoured with an USIBA award presented by the South African Department of Arts and Culture, for his work in Indigenous Wisdom.[2]

Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa
Credo Mutwa in Soweto, South Africa (1997)
Born(1921-07-21)21 July 1921
Natal, Union of South Africa
Died25 March 2020(2020-03-25) (aged 98)
South Africa
NationalitySouth African
Other namesCredo Mutwa
OccupationAuthor
Known forSangoma, Story-Telling, Sculptor
Websitehttp://vusamazulu.com/

Credo called himself a sanusi (common spelling isanuse) which is a type of Zulu diviner or sangoma. The term stems from a more historic time and is not widely used today, even in a traditional setting.[3][4]

Credo lived with his wife Virginia in Kuruman, where they ran a hospice clinic.[5]

Early life

His father was a widower with three surviving children when he met his mother. His father was a builder and a Christian and his mother was a young Zulu girl. Caught between Catholic missionaries on one hand, and a stubborn old Zulu warrior, Credo Mutwa's maternal grandfather, his parents had no choice but to separate. Credo was born out of wedlock, which caused a great scandal in the village and his mother was thrown out by her father. Later he was taken in by one of his aunts.[6]

He was subsequently raised by his father's brother and was taken to the South Coast of Natal (present day KwaZulu-Natal), near the northern bank of the Mkomazi River. He did not attend school until he was 14 years old. In 1935 his father found a building job in the old Transvaal province and the whole family relocated to where he was building.

After falling severely ill, he was taken back to KwaZulu-Natal by his uncle. Where modern medicine had failed, his grandfather, a man whom his father despised as a heathen and demon worshipper, helped him back to health. At this point, Credo began to question many of the things about his people the missionaries would have them believe. "Were we Africans really a race of primitives who possessed no knowledge at all before the white man came to Africa?" he asked himself. His grandfather instilled in him the belief that his illness was a sacred calling that he was to become a sangoma, a healer. He underwent thwasa (sangoma training and initiation) with his grandfather and mother's sister, a young sangoma named Mynah.[7]

Kwa-Khaya Lendaba cultural village
An entrance marked by sculptural portrait of King Ngungunyane on the left and King Shaka on the right.Initiation area of the Kwa-Khaya Lendaba Cultural village in Soweto

In 1974, Credo obtained a piece of land on the Oppenheimer gardens in Soweto in order to create an African cultural village to preserve cultural heritage and his own teachings.[8] He created traditional dwellings imaginatively representing building patterns from across Africa, while human and mythological figures brought to life African folk-lore, beliefs and traditions as seen through his artistic vision.[9] At the time, as the locals were steeped in Christianity, they were suspicious of the cultural village.[10]

Credo believed that the great unrest in Johannesburg and the popularisation of communism in the black struggle drew Africans away from their traditional roots. Unlike most political activists, he actually supported a separation between white and black in order to preserve black traditional tribal customs and way of life.[11] In 1976, students partially burnt down the cultural village after he was misquoted on Afrikaans radio, as they saw the village promoting tribalism and separate development.[11][12] Parts of the village was burnt again in the mid-1980s during a strike against the West Rand city council.[12]

Sculpture of King Khandakhulu discussing his sexually transmitted infection with his gods

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.[11][13][14]

The Kwa-Khaya Lendaba cultural village in Soweto is currently being restored and is still open to the public free of charge. Tour guides are available from the caretaker of the village.[15]

Prophetic Sculptures

Although many of the sculptures at Kwa-Khaya Lendaba were unfamiliar to the Africans they were meant to represent, a number of them have been said to be prophetic in nature. Most notably, were claims of predicting the coming of HIV/AIDS to South Africa. This was seen in his fictional sculptures of King Khandakhulu, who had 200 wives. He couldn't satisfy them all sexually, and so they went out and satisfied themselves elsewhere, which led to them all contracting incurable sexually transmitted infections. The sores on King Khandakhulu's penis resemble the AIDS ribbon. These sculptures were created in 1979, three years before scientists uncovered the human immunodeficiency virus.[12] Claims of his other predictions include the destruction of World Trade Centres in the September 11 attacks, Chris Hani's assassination, and the ousting of president Thabo Mbeki, among others.[12][16]

Views on HIV/AIDS

Mutwa was an active and vocal advocate in the use of traditional African medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer and tuberculosis.[17] He created a trust called the Vulinda Trust in 1999 to preserve traditional knowledge and to promote the use of these traditional medicines. The primary focus of his research had been on a South African plant called unwele in Zulu (Sutherlandia frutescens). Unwele is traditionally used as a wellbeing tonic, and has also demonstrated anticancer activity through in vitro studies.[18][19] Research of the efficacy of Sutherlandia frutescens in the treatment of HIV/AIDS is ongoing and phase IIb trials are being conducted at the South African Herbal Science and Medicine Institute (SAHSMI).[20][21]

"Reptilian agenda"

David Icke aligned himself with Mutwa's theory of a "reptilian agenda" – i.e. that "a reptilian race" evolved on earth and not of alien origin, has controlled the world for thousands of years". He made reference to their earthly origins on video in an Icke interview.[22][23][24][25]

Support for apartheid

Mutwa is recorded as having made statements in support of apartheid.[25]

Bibliography
  • Indaba, My Children (1964). ISBN 0-8021-3604-4, 1st American edition (March 1999)
  • Zulu Shaman: Dreams, Prophecies, and Mysteries. ISBN 0-89281-129-3, 2nd edition (10 October 2003)
  • Songs of the Stars. ISBN 1-886449-01-5, 1st edition (May 2000)
  • Africa Is My Witness, Johannesburg: Blue Crane Books, 1966. ISBN unknown
  • The Reptilian Agenda with David Icke and Credo Mutwa - the complete series.
  • My People, the Writings of a Zulu Witch-Doctor (Penguin Books, 1977) ISBN 0-14-003210-X
  • Let Not My Country Die Publisher: United Publishers International (1986) Language: English ISBN 978-0620102902

References
  1. "The Tree of life Trilogy". Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  2. "Creatives honoured at inaugural USIBA awards | The Star". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. "Who's who Southern Africa - Credo Mutwa". Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  4. Flint, Karen (2008). Healing Traditions: African Medicine, Cultural Exchange, and Competition in South Africa, 1820-1948. Ohio University Press. p. 55. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  5. "Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa". South African History Online. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  6. Credo Mutwa biography.
  7. Mutwa, Credo (1996). Zulu Shaman. Destiny Books. ISBN 0-89281-129-3.
  8. "Credo Mutwa Cultural Village and Oppenheimer Tower". Moja Heritage Collection. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  9. "City saddened by the burning of the Xhosa hut at the Credo Mutwa Village". www.joburg.org.za. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  10. "The rich heritage of Credo Mutwa". News24. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. Stier, Oren Baruch; Landres, J. Shawn (2006). Religion, Violence, Memory, and Place. Indiana University Press. pp. 186–187. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  12. "The rich heritage of Credo Mutwa". City Press. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2014.
  13. "Credo Mutwa". Inspirational Black Literature. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  14. "Mahikeng - North West Province". Tourism North West Province. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  15. "Credo Mutwa Cultural Village". South African Tourism. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  16. "Mbeki's Darkest Hour: sangoma predicted his ouster in 1999". New Zimbabwe.com. 13 November 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
  17. "Medicinal plant fights Aids". BBC News. 30 November 2001. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  18. van Wyk, Ben-Erik; van Oudtshoorn, Bosch; Gericke, Nigel (1999). Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria: Briza Publications. p. 280. ISBN 978-1-875093-37-3.
  19. Tai, Joseph; Cheung, Susan; Chan, Edwin (8 June 2004). "In vitro culture studies of Sutherlandia frutescens on human tumor cell lines". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 93 (1): 9–19. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2004.02.028. ISSN 0378-8741. PMID 15182898.
  20. Johnson, Quinton; Syce, James; Nell, Haylene (27 April 2007). "A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Lessertia frutescens in Healthy Adults". PLoS Clinical Trials. 2 (4): 16. doi:10.1371/journal.pctr.0020016. PMC 1863514. PMID 17476314.
  21. "Sutherlandia plant begins HIV drug safety trials". SciDev Net. 10 February 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  22. David Icke interview – Reptilian Agenda
  23. Credo Mutwa & David Icke - The Reptilian Agenda
  24. Credo Mutwa on Alien Abduction an Reptiles
  25. David Chidester, "Credo Mutwa, Zulu Shaman: The Invention and Appropriation of Indigenous Authenticity in African Folk Religion", Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2002), pp. 65–85.

Further reading
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