By Dr Masimba Mavaza.
Herald
Zimbabweans in the UK have totally refused to abandon their beliefs in Witchcraft lucky charms and in superstitions. They have carried their beliefs in the United Kingdom and created a world of superstitions.
Many a times the superstitious mood is manifested in two different faces which is Christianity and In Cultural traditional beliefs. Either way there is a strong belief in the unknown to bless reward or conquer the unseen.
Another interpreter Mr Seke had worked For more than two decades ,Mr Seke has interpreted for organisations as diverse as the Home Office, the police, local authorities and charities.
“Sadly the murder of Kirsty Bamu is not the first time I’ve come across kindoki,” he says. “I’ve dealt with police cases, care proceedings, domestic arguments, you name it. Kindoki comes up all the time.”
There are many cultures across the globe that still believe in witchcraft. But observers have watched with alarm as the belief in black magic has become increasingly popular in the UK brought by Zimbabweans.
Traditional Zimbabwean culture believes in two realms – the physical and spiritual. “There is another world outside the world we are able to see, touch, smell or feel,” explains Maseko a social worker who has written critically about his community’s beliefs in witchcraft. “If I am ill, obviously something has caused my illness such as a virus or a bacterium. But witchcraft teaches people to look for the causation of a disease. We might ask: why did my daughter die of malaria when my neighbours’ daughter lived?”
In other words, when bad things happen it is usually because a witch has made it happen, either by casting a spell or possessing the body of another. If one delays in getting his Visa he believes that some one thousands of miles away in Mutoko Nyamakope village has caused him or her not to get a visa.
Witchcraft (or witchery) is the practice of magical skills and abilities. Witchcraft is a broad term that varies culturally and societally, and thus can be difficult to define with precision;therefore cross-cultural assumptions about the meaning or significance of the term should be applied with caution.
currently in most traditional cultures worldwide – notably in Africa, the African diaspora, and Indigenous communities – the term is commonly associated with those who use metaphysical means to cause harm to the innocent.In the modern era, primarily in western popular culture, the word may more commonly refer to benign, positive, or neutral practices of modern paganism,such as divination or spellcraft.
We all need to blame someone else for calamities and tragedies – never ourselves. So when one of your cows dies, and a neighbour is on bad terms with you, clearly she has put a spell on your cow, even more clearly if, the neighbour is an old woman who is ‘lame, blear-eyed, pale, foul and full of wrinkles’. If she has a cat to keep her company, the case is even stronger. All witches have ‘familiars’ (demonic creatures that appeared in the form of animals). There were countless old women who were falsely accused of being witches, on no stronger evidence than that. Essex was particularly full of witches; or was it just that the county enjoyed the services of a particularly energetic witch-hunter?” Commented Mr Guanther a German born British.
