The Sunday News
Witness Dingani
WHEN one closely analyses the Family and Religious Studies syllabus, one will notice that the syllabi requires learners to explain the existence of spirits in indigenous religion. Before I discuss the existence of spirits in IR, one should understand what is meant by indigenous and religion.
The term religion has been defined as the relation of man to his own being, but as a being outside himself (National Open University of Nigeria module of 2008) entitled “Introduction to African Traditional Religion”. The major indigenous religions in Zimbabwe it is Ndebele and Shona religions, however, one should note that Zimbabwe has a lot of minority tribes. Before one understands the existence of spirits in IR. It is prudent to understand the meaning of the term “spirit”.
According to W Dingani and P Chakabva in their book entitled “Understanding Family and Religious Studies Vol 1” page 36, “spirit in this case will be referring to the non-physical part of a person, the soul. Dr Kelly in 2000 defined the term spirit as the intelligent beings of the creation. Do spirits exist in IR? It is a matter of debate, however, what should be noted is that the spirits exist in IR this can be further supported by the existence of names of spirits, these names includes amadlozi in Ndebele religion and vadzimu in Shona religion. Proffesor T Taringa also believes that spirits exist as he submitted the following in some of his writings the “African aspect of environmental conservation is largely from their spiritual belief”.
During the authorship of this article, I interviewed teachers who are the experts in religion, Lloyd Mupemhena, a Hurungwe-based teacher at Mshowe High School submitted that “In IR, there is much belief in the existence of spirits, to such an extent that everything in IR is governed by spirits. It is from such belief, for instance, in IR one is not allowed to mess up the forests ie bush toilet. From the folklore of the boy who relieved himself in the forest and his faeces followed him, it is a clear example that the forests are governed by the spirits. According to J Mbiti, in African traditional religion (ATR) everything is embodied with religious and spiritual connotation for an African, the way he/she sneezes, walks, talks, sits etc. It is from this that he notes that an African cannot run away from ATR.
Mr Neganda, the FRS teacher at Mutendi High School also believes that spirits exists in IR, in an interview he mentioned the Nehoreka Spirit in Rusape. The spirit fought the legitimacy chief Tandi in Rusape and ended up arraigned before magistrate’s in Mutare. All this indicates the existence of spirits in Indigenous religion.
It is prudent to note that spirits exist in an invisible form, meaning that one cannot see spirits, this might be the reason why some believe that spirits are the bodyless. W Dingani and P Chakabva in the book entitled Understanding Family and Religious Studies Vol 1 stated that even if spirits are not visible, they dwell in visible geographical, this has been further supported by J Mbiti (1965) who believes that majority of the people in indigenous religion hold that spirits dwell in woods, bushes, forests, rivers, mountains or graveyards.
They are different types of spirits in Indigenous religion, it includes
(a) The Avenging spirits — these are the spirit of the deceased individuals who were wronged, neglected or murdered.
(b) Ancestral Spirits — these are the spirits of the dead grandparents and dead parents.
(c) The Alien Spirits — these are the spirits those who died far away from their homes.
(d) The spirit of witchcraft — it is a broad term for the belief and practice of magic.
The above spirits play a vital role in indigenous Religion, for instance the avenging spirit promotes the concept of ubuntu/unhu and it maintains unity.
There are some incidents which have been recorded by media showing the existence of spirits, especially the spirit of witchcraft. It has been recorded to be existing in most parts of the country.
This coming week, I will explain the positive and negative attributes of different types of spirits.
-Witness Dingani is a Zimbabwe-based author, motivational speaker, columnist, youth coach, publisher, radio host, cricketer, member of Chain Support Foundation Counselling Company. He is the founder of charity organisation “Dingani Charity Organisation”. In 2016 he was voted as the most influential youthful figures in Zimbabwe on the 8th position out of 15 people by the Pan-Zimbabwe Society. A-level Divinity Questions by schools can be submitted through his mobile number +263777896159 or email address : [email protected].
