REALL News - Vol 06 No 06 - 1998

Magazine Overview

Title: The REALL News
Issue: Volume 6, Issue 6
Date: August 1998
Cover Headline: Bullets into Water: The Sorcerers of Africa
Author: Richard Petraitis

This issue of The REALL News features an article by Richard Petraitis titled "Bullets into Water: The Sorcerers of Africa." The article examines the historical role of magic, sorcery, and supernatural beliefs in African warfare, highlighting instances where these beliefs led to tragic consequences when confronted with modern military technology.

Bullets into Water: The Sorcerers of Africa

The article begins by stating that across Africa, sorcerers and sorceresses have been killed by mobs or executed by governments for practicing magic. Despite the tragic outcomes, the belief in magic has pervaded the continent, especially as African nations struggle with independence and modernization. Civil wars and ethnic hatreds have seen soldiers trusting in the supernatural protection offered by sorcerers and prophets. However, the Colonial Era and the present century have demonstrated the ineffectiveness of such charms against modern arms, leading to sad dramas on battlefields.

Battlefield Tour in Zaire

George Ivan Smith, author of "Ghosts of Kampala," recounts a battlefield tour in what is now Zaire. He observed corpses of tribesmen who, according to local guides, had their ears to the ground listening to the enemy. These men were supposedly protected by "Allah Water," a magic water given by sorcerers to shield warriors from bullets and nature's fury. This belief in magic water had previously led to the routing of tribal armies across Southern Africa, the Congo, and Uganda. The water was often laced with a hallucinogen from the daffodil species, which induced feelings of elation, excitement, and false courage, ultimately undone by the physics of bullets.

The Xhosa Wars

In April 1819, the British Colony on the Cape (Grahamstown) faced a large Xhosan army. The Xhosan prophet Nxele had promised the Xhosan king, Ndlambe, that he could turn white men's bullets into water. Trusting this promise, the Xhosan army advanced in massed columns against the British colonial army. The British, with their muskets and artillery, decimated the Xhosan ranks, killing one hundred warriors and wounding nearly a thousand. The British army subsequently invaded Xhosan territory, and Nxele eventually surrendered. This belief in magic resulted in a military disaster for the Xhosa people.

Later, in 1850, a Xhosan prophet named Mlanjeni, "the Riverman," claimed it was necessary to cleanse the Xhosa nation and make war on the whites. He promised Xhosan warriors immunity from bullets and provided them with twigs from a plumbug bush for protection. This led to another battlefield tragedy, with hundreds killed when the protection proved nonexistent. By 1853, the Xhosa were exhausted, and their resistance ended, but the belief in magic power persisted.

The Maji-Maji Rebellion

Following the Berlin Act of 1885, the European land grab in Africa intensified, leading to desperate resistance. In the summer of 1905, German East Africa became the scene of the Maji-Maji rebellion. A spirit medium named Kinjikitile Ngwale, who called himself Bokero, claimed to be possessed by a snake spirit and insisted the people were called to drive out the Germans. Bokero gave his followers "war medicine" (maji in Swahili), which was water mixed with castor oil and millet seeds, to turn German bullets into water. Thousands of Maji warriors, armed with spears and arrows, attacked German strongholds. However, German soldiers with machine guns laid down lethal fire, cutting down rows of warriors. The battle at Mahenge was the peak of the rebellion. Although the Ngoni people joined with an army of five thousand, a German force attacked their camp, and the Ngoni army retreated, crying that "The maji is a lie!" The German army was victorious, though Kinjikitile Ngwale is still considered a hero by many in Tanganyika.

Prophet Rembe and the Yakan Revolt

During World War I, in Uganda, a prophet named Rembe emerged, offering the Lugbara people divine power through drinking special water from a pool where a snake with a human head gave oracles. Rembe promised protection from European rifles, and his followers believed his magic could make guns fire only water. In 1917, Rembe was arrested and executed. The "Yakan water" cult persisted, and after World War I, unrest in Uganda, spurred by this belief, led to the Yakan revolt of 1919. This revolt resulted in the deaths of a dozen policemen, and authorities acted decisively, imprisoning leaders. The deaths of leaders in prison caused the cult to die out, but magical thinking continued.

Alice Lakwena and the Holy Spirit Movement

In October 1987, Uganda experienced an invasion by Voudon priestess Alice Lakwena, leading an army of six thousand called the Holy Spirit Movement. Many of her followers were soldiers driven out of Uganda. Lakwena smeared her followers with an ointment to grant them protection from bullets. Her poorly armed warriors launched suicide attacks, believing their rocks and sticks would explode like grenades. Reports indicated that thousands of her loyal followers were killed by modern arms. Lakwena herself was arrested by Kenyan authorities at their border as she fled Uganda. Interestingly, reports suggest Lakwena kept a heavily armed bodyguard while arming her suicide warriors only with rocks, sticks, and a dab of magic ointment, and that she favored the AK-47 over her own magical abilities.

The Persistence of Magical Thinking

The article concludes by noting that the belief in magical arts and sorcerers has led to the demise of many African armies. The tragic lessons of the past are ignored by many in modern Africa, where superstition and magical thinking persist. This has led to fear and hindered liberty. The author references a 1968 speech by President Kenyatta, who asked forty thousand Kenyans to stop the practice of witchcraft after the mass execution of fifteen people for alleged cannibalism. The article suggests that the use of magic water and oils are not the only excesses of magical thinking.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring theme throughout the article is the persistent and often destructive influence of magic, sorcery, and superstition on African warfare and societal development. The author highlights how a deep-seated belief in supernatural protection has repeatedly led to military defeats and tragic loss of life when confronted with rational, modern approaches. The editorial stance appears critical of this reliance on magic, viewing it as a hindrance to progress, liberty, and rational thought, contrasting it with the harsh realities of warfare and governance.