Durban - Families of the 82 South Africans who died while attending Pastor T B Joshua’s The Synagogue, Church of all Nations in Nigeria should not be “confused by being born again” and should collect the spirits of their loved ones from the foreign land, King Goodwill Zwelithini said on Thursday.
The king said that although he was a strong believer in Christianity, African cultures should not be abandoned because they were a gift from God. He said a failure to return the spirits from Lagos would lead to bad omens for the survivors of those who died in September last year.
Speaking at the opening of the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg, the king was addressing hundreds of people including MPLs, MECs and businesspeople.
“I talk as an African and a Zulu. I am a Christian, but this is our culture which was given to us by God. Even when we are now confused by being born again, it is important to observe our culture,” he said.
The king was reacting to the disaster which led to death of 116 followers of Joshua’s church in Lagos in September. Eighty-six South Africans were among those who died when a multi-storey guest house attached to the church collapsed.
The king commended the South African and Nigerian governments for bringing back South African bodies for burial.
Simphiwe Ngcobo, whose parents, Dickie and Dennis, were among those who died, said although he was a Christian he respected the king’s advice.
“My family are Christians, but we are open-minded and we know about culture. But so far we have not taken any initiative to go back to Nigeria to collect the spirits of my parents,” he said.
Church spokesman Kirsten Nematandani was reluctant to comment on what the king had said.
The director of the KwaZulu-Natal Council of Churches, Dr Douglas Dziva, said he respected the king’s advice.
“It would be up to the families concerned whether they take the advice, because they are the ones living with the situation. It is up to them to decide what to do, but the king’s views are very important,” he said.
Explaining how the culture of bringing back the spirits of the dead was done, cultural expert Professor Jabulani Maphalala said it was important to bring back the spirit of a person who died through an accident or murder while away from home. If this was not done, family members would be followed by bad luck.
“This is an old culture which dates back to ancient wars in South Africa. The bodies would be buried in the mountains where they had been killed. But the family would have to bring their spirits back home,” he said.
He said other family members or future generations would be likely to die in a similar way to that in which their loved one had died, if the spirit was not collected.
He said a branch of the umlahlankosi tree, which is also known as mphafa or buffalo thorn, was used to collect the spirit.
“This tree has thorns and it is believed that the spirit entangles on the thorns. Two family members should travel to and from collecting the spirit, and on the way they should not talk or greet people.
“When they get to the scene where the loved one died, they would then call the deceased’s name and tell him that they are taking him back home. If they are travelling by car, whenever they take a break from driving, they should explain to the spirit why.”
When they got home, they should not enter the home with the branch to which the spirit was attached. “You just show it its home, and ask it to protect the family and leave the branch outside the fence.”
The Mercury