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Religion And Politics
Religion and politics have always been interconnected. This is reflected in leadership: most Kings and chiefs have traditionally ruled by divine right. Many are able to trace their ancestry back quite precisely, through oral histories, to a semi-divine figure. The Baganda, in Uganda, trace their right to rule back to Kintu, the first Kabaka or king. For the Yoruba, in Nigeria, it is Oduduwa, who began life as a junior deity and then became the first King, or Ooni of Ife.
RESURRECTION
The Sonjo, of Tanzania, have a founding father called Khambageu, who appeared among them, seemingly from nowhere. There are parallels between his life and that of Jesus Christ, although there is no historical connection.
Khambageu's mission was entirely benevolent. He was, among other things, a healer and judge. Later he was rejected by the community, and died alone. But when people came to dig up his grave they found it empty, except for sandals; there were reports of him flying to the sun. He is now a semi-divine figure.
Even today, many rulers retain vestiges of divinity. It may, for example,
be forbidden to see where they sleep. Such is the case of the Kabaka of
Buganda. In addition, the king may not be allowed to touch the ground
with his feet - such is the case of the Lunda of Congo and Nyamwezi of
Tanzania. Likewise, the death of a king is often kept secret for a period
of time and it is not referred to directly.
  CULTS
In times of political turmoil and change,
new religious cults have sprung up. For example, the Mourimi movement
in southern Mozambique emerged in 1913-14, a time of famine and military
defeat. The Mcapi cult in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) and Nyasaland (Malawi)
was active at the end of the Second World War, a period of great change.
THE SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN STOOL OF THE ASANTE
The power of Asantehene, king of the Asante (in modern Ghana), was invested in the Golden Stool. The Golden Stool represented the people, the soul of the nation, the good fortune of the nation. The importance of the stool was crudely grasped by the British at a time of aggressive imperial expansion.
The Asantehene was sent into exile in 1896. But the key to his power - the Golden Stool - remained beyond the reach of the British. In 1900 the British Governor of the Gold Coast, Sir Frederick Hodgson, demanded the Golden Stool in the most offensive manner possible at a meeting of Asante chiefs.
"Where is the Golden Stool? Why am I not sitting on the Golden Stool at this moment? I am the representative of the paramount power; why have you relegated me to this chair?"
Verbatim transcript of Sir Frederick Hodgson's address to Asante chiefs, January 1900.
He then ordered soldiers to hunt out the Golden Stool.
The white man asked the children where the Golden Stool was kept in Bare. The white man said he would beat the children if they did not bring their father from the bush. The children told the white man not to call their fathers. If he wanted to beat them, he should do it. The children knew the white men were coming for the Golden Stool. The children did not fear beating. The white soldiers began to bully and beat the children.
Eye Witness account of Kwadwo Afodo, quoted in Thomas J. Lewin's book Asante before the British: The Prempean Years 1875-1900.
The search for the Golden Stool sparked off a full scale military revolt, led by the Queen Mother (Yaa Asantewa). This culminated in the Governor being besieged in Kumase. The Queen Mother was only defeated by a British expeditionary force in July 1900.
SPIRIT MEDIUMS
Spirit
mediums had a key role in shaping society politically and socially. In
Zimbabwe, there is a strong tradition of the spirit Ambuya Nehanda. She
is an ancestral Shona spirit who has taken possession of women a number
of times. The two most famous episodes took place in the 1890's and again
in the 1970's.
In 1896, Ambuya Nehanda entered the body of a peasant woman, who then led a Shona uprising against the British in 1896. She was subsequently executed but predicted her bones would rise again.
Less than eighty years later in 1971, Ambuya Nehanda entered the body of another woman. She was recognised by ZANU rebel forces, fighting Ian Smith for independence. Her role was again quite short lived - she died in 1973. But she had a profound effect on the fighters she came into contact with.
 Listen here to ZANU, freedom fighter, Mayor Urimbo, describing how Ambuya Nehanda helped other fighters
BELIEF IN A NEW POLITICAL BEGINNING
One of the most tragic incidences, bringing ancestral spirits on a collision course with European ambition, involved the Xhosa people of South Africa. They had fought the Dutch, and then took on the British. But by 1854, the British had stripped the Xhosa chiefs of power and planted them as salaried functionaries in the colonial administration.
This loss of power and land was devastating, materially and psychologically. The final blow came when their cattle, integral to their economic survival and sense of communal identity, became infected with a lethal lung infection, killing as many as 80 per cent of some chiefs' cattle. Their world order and sense of purpose collapsed, and the Xhosa turned to their religion to find the reasons behind these disasters.
A sixteen-year-old prophetess said she was in touch with the ancestors. Their message was that the Xhosa leaders should create a new beginning for their people. The Xhosa leaders, in turn, believed this could only be achieved by wiping out the old status quo. That meant killing what remaining cattle the Xhosa had. The Xhosa people became divided over what to do. But in February 1856, the Xhosa began killing cattle; a total of 400,000 were killed. 40,000 Xhosa died as a result of this and many of those that lived had to work in Cape Town or as labourers on farms.
Read more about the Xhosa in the South Africa section.
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