21 June 2010
With the vuvuzelas so far falling short of providing a winning boost to South Africa at the World Cup, some locals are turning to other, far more imaginative means of help.
In order to increase Bafana Bafana’s chances of making it through the first round of the tournament people are burning, brewing and smoking.
Muti is very much in use in modern-day South Africa. Traditionalists believe a mixture of herbs, plants and animal parts, such as vulture brains and aloe, can be used to change luck, heal sickness or enhance performance. Sometimes muti contains human body parts.
“Muti works,” said Miriam Lethaba, a 62-year-old domestic worker from Ratanda, a township outside Heidelberg in Ekurhuleni . “It will make Bafana strong.”
Bafana Bafana lost to Uruguay on Wednesday and need to beat France tomorrow to have any chance of advancing to the knockout rounds.
If they fail to advance South Africa will become the first host team in history to be eliminated from the tournament in the first round.
In order to avoid that embarrassment sangomas are doing their best to give the team an edge, believing that burning muti at football matches will change the team’s fortunes.
“I believe muti can improve Bafana Bafana’s performance,” said Abel Zwane, a 50-year-old merchant who sells traditional medicine in Heidelberg.
Jaco Lushaba, a 40-year-old traditional Zulu dancer from Ratanda, said he also believes in muti, but thinks he might have in the past himself been a victim of someone else’s burning concoction.
“I once lost in a competition where the smell of muti was everywhere,” Lushaba said. “It made me confused and I could not perform at my best.”
Muti was developed among the indigenous peoples of Africa over centuries.
The name comes from the Zulu word for tree.
Some traditionalists burn or brew muti to ensure good fortune and others use it to predict coming events.
“People go to sangomas to make muti for good luck and to see into the future,” said Ibrahim Hoosen, a 66- year-old Heidelberg man who owns a muti shop.
Sangomas are found in the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi and Ndebele cultures of southern Africa. Some white South Africans, like Ben van der Merwe, have studied with sangomas and also make muti.
But Van der Merwe isn’t convinced his potions would be of any use to the national football team.
“The only sport-related muti treatment I know of is called ‘flesh builders’, but I have not heard of anyone who uses muti to influence Bafana’s performance,” Van der Merwe said.
Angunsto Honwano, a 22-year-old street vendor from Balfour, northeast of Johannesburg, is also sceptical about muti’s ability to help Bafana Bafana.
“Muti works for good luck,” Honwano said. “But Bafana will just have to play hard to get through the first round.”
Lushaba said muti could help South Africa beat France and reach the next round of the World Cup – but only as long as the players believed in it.
“The problem is that there are many different cultures in the Bafana team and I don’t think that they all believe in the power of muti,” Lushaba said.
“The only way muti can work for Bafana Bafana is if every member of the team believes that it can work.
“Muti is about believing. If you do not truly believe that it can work, then it won’t.” – Sapa-AP
