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AEGIS European Conference on African Studies
11 - 14 July 2007
African Studies Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands
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The Occult, the Erotic and Entrepreneurship: an analysis of oral accounts of ukuthwala, wealth-giving magic, sold by the medicine man Khotso Sethuntsa
| Panel |
68. Exploring new dimensions of religion and entrepreneurship
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| Paper ID | 360 |
| Author(s) |
Wood, Felicity
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| Paper |
No paper submitted
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| Abstract | The South African millionaire medicine man, Khotso Sethuntsa (1898 - 1972) was famous throughout southern Africa as a seller of ukuthwala: a powerful, perilous magic for long-term wealth, which involved taking on the ownership of a wealth-giving snake. It was widely believed that this creature often manifested itself as the mamlambo, a seductive mermaid woman, with the power to bestow riches at a terrible price. It has been argued that the alluring figure of the mamlambo, who is the product of a hazardous
desire for personal gain, arises from the influence of western capitalist forces on African society.
This study investigates the substantial body of southern African oral narrative dealing with the experiences of those who went to Khotso (as he is commonly known) for ukuthwala. They were required to undergo various surreal, phantasmagoric ordeals. Most of those who passed successfully through Khotso's ukuthwala procedure did indeed become rich. There are a number of reasons for this, some of them very practical ones.
This study also examines accounts of Khotso's career as an ukuthwala practitioner and his association with the mamlambo. It is is claimed that Khotso himself was "married" to this being. Many believed that this influenced the nature and direction of his life, the rise and decline of his fortunes stemming from the influence of this being, the source of
his wealth and his paranormal powers.
In these ukuthwala narratives, the magical is intertwined around the economic and the erotic: two very powerful forces in the temporal world. Firstly, Khotso and many of his customers came from economically deprived backgrounds and, as black inhabitants of South Africa under apartheid, lacked access to conventional forms of material advancement and personal empowerment. In consequence, Khotso's clients resorted to the
agency of the supernatural to attain economic security and to exert some measure of control over their lives. Khotso himself turned to magic as a means of manipulating circumstances and attaining power and prosperity that would otherwise have been beyond his reach. For both Khotso and his clients, then, the ukuthwala process was perceived as an alternative avenue (albeit a highly dangerous one) towards economic advancement.
The sensual dimension of the ukuthwala narratives is also discussed. It has been claimed that the mamlambo can adopt the form of a beguiling woman who makes sexual demands on the man who has bound himself to her. Moreover, Khotso subjected his clients to a form of sexual testing, before granting them medicine for ukuthwala. This study thus explores the relationship between sexuality and supernatural potency, a longstanding,
widespread intercultural phenomenon.
In conclusion, this study evaluates current attitudes towards ukuthwala in South African society, taking cognizance of the debates and discussions concerning this practice.
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