In the 1980s, in the early postcolonial Zimbabwe, the government introduced several strategies to try to restore the respect and function of cultural beliefs and traditional healing practices. It created Zinatha (the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association) and later amended the witchcraft suppression law, so that traditional healers were no longer viewed as witches or “witch-doctors” or their healing practices as witchcraft.
I am a researcher who focuses on traditional healing, mental health and neoliberal regimes in northeastern Zimbabwe. I wanted to know what role n’anga play in helping the Korekore (a subgroup of Shona people) in the country’s Rushinga district manage their mental health. I also wanted to know how people think about mental illness and what factors they believe influence it. In a recent study I did just that.
The Korekore strongly believe that mental illness is largely caused by sorcery, witchcraft, the breaking of cultural taboos, or aggrieved or avenging spirits. They acknowledge that other psychosocial and physical factors can play a role, too, but largely see kupenga as a social and cultural issue.
This means that traditional healers are key to managing mental illness. I argue that the public health system, which still values Western biomedicine over other approaches to healing, needs to take the role of traditional healers more seriously and work towards helping patients holistically, in a way those patients value and recognise.
Traditional healers at work
I must point out that people in Rushinga district also consult with psychiatrists, psychologists and medical doctors. But many do so in conjunction with the guidance, advice and interventions offered to them by traditional healers.
While individual interactions will differ, the healers’ approach follows an overall pattern.
First, healers divine the causes of kupenga and suggest healing methods. These proposed methods differ from individual to individual, even if their challenges appear to be the same. They include exorcising bad spirits (mweya yakaipa or mamhepo), witchcraft and sorcery, through inducing vomiting (kurutsisa), and the use of spiritualised (ritually prepared) and non-spiritualised herbs.
These herbs are ingested into the body in various ways: via incisions into the skin, smoking, sniffing, steaming, applying animal fats and conducting traditional healing rituals (bira/mizva).
The study
Rushinga is a district in the Mashonaland Central province, home to about 77,000 people. My study focused on people living in Katevera, a rural area in the district. I spoke to traditional healers, faith healers, people who had previously been treated for mental illness and were considered cured, and relatives of mentally ill people.