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Topic: South African remedy for financial woes (Read 1263 times) |
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Fritz
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South African remedy for financial woes
« on: 2009-12-30 23:33:04 » |
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Blunderov have you been holding out on us ? If you see a marketing potential, I do have a line on Canadian beaver testicles ... I just Say'in. 
Cheers
Fritz
Source: The Register
Author: Lester Haines
DAte: 29th December 2009 12:11 GMT
Fancy a lottery win? Smoke dried vulture brains
Those of you feeling a bit cash-strapped following Xmas might find a solution in South Africa's traditional medicine, or muti, markets, where a particle of dried vulture brain could help you secure a vital cash injection.
According to AFP, the brains are "rolled into a cigarette or inhaled as vapors", with remarkable results. Vendor Scelo, punting his wares in downtown Johannesburg's muti market, explained: "Everybody asks for the brain. You see things that people can't see. For lotto, you dream the numbers."
This comes at a price, though. Scelo sells a tiny speck of brain in a bottle for 50 rand (£4.20), while a whole vulture could be worth 2,000 rand (£168), with its bones and feathers used to brew other traditional cures.
One anonymous traditional healer, or nyanga, noted that the vulture's head was the most desired part since it endows users "with the bird's excellent vision that helps them fly out of nowhere to descend on carcasses".
This popular belief, "shared along Africa's east coast, as well as in some west African countries", explains why the brains might reveal lottery numbers, as well as having other exceptional powers.
Mthembeni, a young Zulu looking to buy "a blend of ground brains and beaks" for his dogs, elaborated: "I put it on their nose. Then they can detect any strange presence from kilometres away. It gives security to my family."
The loser in all this is, of course, the vulture. AFP says that a study by two wildlife groups showed at least 160 birds find their way onto the muti market each year, while researcher Steve McKean "estimates that up to 300 vultures are killed by a variety of causes, especially in the eastern province of Kwazulu-Natal, where poaching still goes largely unpunished".
McKean warned: "Traditional use as it is currently happening is likely to render vultures extinct in southern Africa on its own within 20-30 years."
Back in the Johannesburg muti market, Scelo admitted: "Vultures are scarce. I only have one every three or four months." ®
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Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains -anon-
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Blunderov
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Re:South African remedy for financial woes
« Reply #1 on: 2010-01-16 10:18:59 » |
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Quote from: Fritz on 2009-12-30 23:33:04
[i]Blunderov have you been holding out on us ? If you see a marketing potential, I do have a line on Canadian beaver testicles ... I just Say'in.
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[Blunderov] Hey there Fritz. The muti thing get's heavier than buzzard brains I'm afraid...
www.iol.co.za
Muti killings is a way of life in rural areas
Author: Candice Bailey
Dated: January 16 2010 at 11:32AM
One in five people in South Africa's rural areas has had first-hand experience of a human body part being trafficked after a muti killing.
And, of the body parts mentioned in their accounts, male genitals, breasts, hearts, fingers and tongues are the most commonly listed, according to research undertaken by the Human Rights League in Mozambique and supported by Childline in South Africa.
The study's findings are all the more shocking after the recent discovery of 10-year-old Masego Kgomo's mutilated body in dense bush in Soshanguve, Tshwane.
One of the five men arrested for her murder is a sangoma who allegedly uses body parts for muti. A 14-year-old boy was also arrested.
But Masego's case is one of many. Of the more than 413 individuals who attended workshops for the research report, 22 percent of those who were willing to be interviewed had seen a mutilated body with parts missing or a body part separated from a body.
There were 72 accounts relating to the trafficking of body parts mentioned in the report. Of these, 27 were from South Africa.
"This percentage is far greater than expected and is supported by the general feeling among those attending the workshops and focus groups," said the report.
Between the two countries, 19 different body parts were mentioned as missing from bodies. They included heads, female genital organs, breasts, tongues, ears, eyes, hands, legs, lungs, guts, skin, arms, jaws, lips and fingers.
One of the interview samples in the report was of a case in Bloemspruit where a woman who wanted to fall pregnant went to a sangoma and was advised to wear a belt with children's fingers and penises hanging from it.
"She was made to drink a concoction she believed contained human blood and fat and she was given a piece of flesh which she believed to be a human organ, perhaps a heart. She sliced small pieces from the flesh each night and fried them on a stove," said the report.
Speaking about body-part trafficking to the Saturday Star this week, Simon Fellows, the project manager at the league, said there was a demand in South Africa for body parts and a supply from Mozambique.
"We don't know if there is a demand in Mozambique too because the checks at the South African borders going to Mozambique are far more superior."
He said there was a prevalence of muti-killings in every single province, and in many cases, communities were saying the number of incidents was getting out of hand.
"Every person we came across had something to say. It is a prolific problem that affects every single community. The conclusion is that there is no evidence that adults are specifically asked for, but there is evidence that kids are mutilated."
Fellows related stories of fishermen in Mozambique who use children's belly buttons in their nets to improve their catch. It is also believed that children's body parts bring more luck and prosperity than those of adults.
Joan van Niekerk, from Childline, said it was difficult to establish the true prevalence of muti-killing because people were often too scared to talk about the things they had witnessed.
She said they had also had instances where staff had refused to work on the project because they had felt intimidated. The researchers had grown up in their communities and still adhered to a traditional value system.
"People who do witchcraft are seen as very powerful people by the community. It is a very secretive activity. Even in the community, people are not always sure who did it and where."
And, Van Niekerk said, while the practice was deeply rooted in the rural areas, there were incidents in urban areas too.
The study, Trafficking Body Parts in Mozambique and South Africa, was released last year.
It is a precursor to another study that will look at the prevalence of muti killings in SA. The second study will start in two weeks' time.
This article was originally published on page 7 of The Star on January 16, 2010
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Fritz
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Re:South African remedy for financial woes
« Reply #2 on: 2010-01-16 17:37:18 » |
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Quote:[Blunderov] Hey there Fritz. The muti thing get's heavier than buzzard brains I'm afraid...
www.iol.co.za |
I should know better by now then to pose Western Sarcasm to you, since you can up the stakes several hundred fold. As I looked up Muti, I see the "civilized world" has this view of it. I guess be it Medicine Men or Bishops; dead people still remain the inevitable out come. Sad paradigm shift for me; when I look to the rural retreat of Canada for safety and sanctuary, and in South Africa rural could easily mean death. Once again you remind me not to complain to much about my lot in life.
Cheers to you ... stay safe.
Fritz
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Where there is the necessary technical skill to move mountains, there is no need for the faith that moves mountains -anon-
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Blunderov
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Re:South African remedy for financial woes
« Reply #3 on: 2010-01-16 18:27:25 » |
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Quote from: Fritz on 2010-01-16 17:37:18
I should know better by now then to pose Western Sarcasm to you... |
[Blunderov] No worries comrade. I did not perceive your post to be sarcastic at all. Conversational is what I took it to be - always a pleasure with you. But yes; this is The Dark Continent in many ways.
A particular pipe dream of my own is a movie script with a mis en scene (loosely speaking) of muti murder and it's stunning (but steadfastly ignored) correlations with aspects of Western religion (Catholicism in particular) and legal culture. Gavin Hood (our local hero de jour) of "Tsotsi" fame
http://www.tsotsi.com/english/index.php
went quite some way down this road with an earlier movie "A Reasonable Man" but I think there is more to be said on the subject of African superstition than he was able to give his attention to in just that one movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0178860/
The theme is one which is (IMV) very pertinent to our CoV project; that potent evil which lurks beneath the surface of any religious world view- no matter how lightly dusted over with sacchirine it may happen to be.
Best regards.
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