Journey to the stars: Credo Mutwa and his spiritual growth

I HAVE, on several occasions, pointed out the power of spirituality in transcending the past, the present and the future. In doing so, it makes use of a medium in the form of a human being. It is against this background that we render the life of Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, arguably southern Africa’s leading isanuse, a spirit man who passed on a few years ago.

Spirituality served inhabitants, the spirit beings, in the spiritual realm who found people who recognised their presence and gave glory to them. At the same time, there was reciprocity in that those who propitiated the inhabitants of the spiritual realm looked after the interests of the men and women of flesh.

It ought to be realised that even non-Africans embrace spirituality and many in different parts of the world professes spirituality. In the next article, we shall give an account of a white man who professes an isangoma and went through ritual training in Alexandra Township in South Africa.

Mutwa was born on 21 July 1921 in KwaZulu-Natal. His three names embrace three human groups, the Zulu, whites with their Christian faith and southern Africa’s earliest inhabitants, the San known in the Nguni language as abaTwa. Credo is Latin for “I believe.” He was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church, one of the several proselytising Christian faiths on the African continent.

His mother was Numabhunu, the daughter of Zike Shezi who survived the Anglo-Zulu War at Ulundi. Shezi was an isangoma who was a custodian of Zulu relics. It is important to point out that a spirit is infused into a person right at the beginning of life, that is, at conception. The spirit may come from the mother side or the father side whose blood runs in the veins of their progeny. However, there are cases when a foreign spirit may possess one who is no relative of the host.

Essentially, one is born with a potential to be one spiritually endowed. It is not something that one acquires after birth or later in life. All that happens is the development of an individual, in biological and spiritual terms for the spirit to begin manifesting itself and demanding training of the host to undertake the task thrust upon him/her.

Religious differences between Credo’s parents prevented their getting married. After the birth of their son, they drifted apart. Credo became attached to his maternal grandfather and became the latter’s errand boy and assistant who carried his bag of medicines. Such an errands boy or man is referred to as uhlaka in IsiNdebele.

Meanwhile, Credo’s father won custody of the young son, much against the wishes of his mother. Credo’s father had since got married and the couple was blessed with three children. Off to the Transvaal, now the Limpopo Province, the family went in 1928. Clearly, in that year Credo was still young to begin on the journey to spirituality. He was just seven years old and immature to engage in matters of spirit.

Credo attended mission schools and there he was taught in the medium of the English. He was taught history and Western civilisation. The syllabi had a content that was essentially foreign to African culture, let alone African Spirituality. He was confirmed a Christian, a faith he was to renounce when his African Spirituality matured. Growing up in a country where Africans had little opportunity to acquire professional qualifications.

Manifestations of spirituality, be it African or not, are quite distinct. In most cases inexplicable illnesses set in. If not, one’s life usually becomes chaotic. Credo was no exception. In 1943, at the time when he was sufficiently mature in biological, mental, physical and emotional terms, sickness and disorientation set in. He was afflicted with dreams and visions, the two forms of communication between men and women of flesh and the spirit beings who are beyond the flesh.

Strange malaise came over. His maternal grandfather and mother suggested that he undergo cleansing or purification rites. He was on the verge of undergoing ritual and spiritual training to become a traditional healer, a profession in which he was to excel and become leader of other practitioners in the same profession.

Spiritual endowment is but a mere potential. When it manifests itself, it must of necessity, be followed by a rigorous spiritual training programme. The training programme seeks to transform an individual into a practicing traditional healer. The training covers many fields such as fortification of an individual against the malevolent machinations of witches and wizards, opening of communication channels between an individual and the spirit world, ethics of the profession, divination, processing of medicines and their application, and healing, inter alia.

Communication between the spirit medium and the spirit beings enables the former to access knowledge and information otherwise not available to non-spiritual people. This is true of both the traditional healers and the witches/wizards. For both categories, who happen to be spiritual, there is a whole world of secrecy. Essentially, it is access to intelligence and, accordingly, vows are made never to reveal classified information, secrets and in the process ensure protection of spiritual property.

It is important to point out to point out the differences between spirit beings in terms of their areas of expertise. There are herbalists, or izinyanga who may acquire knowledge of herbs from relatives or working closely with traditional healers. However, in the majority of cases, one experiences a calling from the spirits. One becomes an isangoma in the Nguni context. The qualified person performs many duties such as healing, divination, removing family curses, fortification of homes and individuals, brokering peace among quarrelling community memberss, inter alia.

Credo became an isangoma. He was soon to be elevated to a higher spiritual status, that of isanuse. That came after he undertook special rituals which enhanced his spirituality. In essence, he was consolidating communication channels between himself and the spirit beings within the spiritual realm.

In his accounts, he narrates some of the gory experiences and rituals that he went through, including consuming rancid human flesh. Spirituality may be deepened, consolidated and enhanced through which the ancient knowledge and information may be communicated.

When one approaches that state, one begins to lose part of his/her humanness, mostly in the concrete sphere. They approximate the life of spirits who cannot be said to be male or female. Later in life, Credo was heard lamenting the fact that he had acquired bisexuality.

Nevertheless, he possessed a lot of knowledge because of his link with the spirit beings who lived a long time ago. He wore many gadgets including the Egyptian Ankh and the crescent moon.

“When I was made into isanuse, I took a vow never to reveal my knowledge, never to tell the people about my profession or about the sacred artifacts that I am entrusted with. Some years ago, I decided to break it.”

After taking that decision, Credo faced ostracisation from the community and was bitterly blamed for what he had done. Credo had broken the vow, at great social cost. Yet we stand to benefit from the vast knowledge and wisdom he acquired, and more importantly, for breaking the vow and letting us into the ancient secrets of this world that we understand very little about.

When we consider the amount of knowledge that Credo possessed, we ought to appreciate the impact and consequences of the unrelenting onslaught on African Spirituality. The importance of what he knew was testified to by the beeline that was maintained by researchers to his home, on a farm between Pretoria and Johannesburg in South Africa.

When we consider the knowledge and information Credo dispensed regarding African creation myths, the aliens who visited our Earth from Planet Nibiru, we are left in no doubt that Credo represented Afro-centric ideas in the various fields he dabbled in, the visitors from Planet Nibiru, the stories of aliens, and indeed, the African interpretation of crop circles, we are now better informed how he was able to do so, through wisdom and mischief-mischief by daring the heavens and walking where angels treaded with the utmost care.