Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa

His father was a widower with three surviving children when he met his mother. His father was a builder and a Christian and his mother was a young Zulu girl. Caught between Catholic missionaries on one hand, and a stubborn old Zulu warrior, Credo Mutwa's maternal grandfather, his parents had no choice but to separate. Credo was born out of wedlock, which caused a great scandal in the village and his mother was thrown out by her father. Later he was taken in by one of his aunts.[http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_credo_mutwa04.htm Credo Mutwa biography.]

He was subsequently raised by his father's brother and was taken to the South Coast of Natal (present day KwaZulu-Natal), near the northern bank of the Mkomazi River. He did not attend school until he was 14 years old. In 1935 his father found a building job in the old Transvaal province and the whole family relocated to where he was building.

After falling severely ill, he was taken back to KwaZulu-Natal by his uncle. Where modern medicine had failed, his grandfather, a man whom his father despised as a heathen and demon worshipper, helped him back to health. At this point, Credo began to question many of the things about his people the missionaries would have them believe. "Were we Africans really a race of primitives who possessed no knowledge at all before the white man came to Africa?" he asked himself. His grandfather instilled in him the belief that his illness was a sacred calling that he was to become a sangoma, a healer. He underwent thwasa (sangoma training and initiation) with his grandfather and mother's sister, a young sangoma named Mynah.{{cite book |last=Mutwa|first=Credo|year=1996|title=Zulu Shaman|publisher=Destiny Books|isbn=0-89281-129-3}}

File:Credo_Mutwa_Cultural_Village_Soweto.jpg on the left and King Shaka on the right.Initiation area of the Kwa-Khaya Lendaba Cultural village in Soweto]]In 1974, Credo obtained a piece of land on the Oppenheimer gardens in Soweto in order to create an African cultural village to preserve cultural heritage and his own teachings.{{cite web|title=Credo Mutwa Cultural Village and Oppenheimer Tower|url=http://www.heritagecollection.co.za/detail/items/credo-mutwa-cultural-village-and-Oppenheimer-Tower.html|publisher=Moja Heritage Collection|access-date=5 September 2014|archive-date=26 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326201326/http://www.heritagecollection.co.za/detail/items/credo-mutwa-cultural-village-and-Oppenheimer-Tower.html|url-status=dead}} He created traditional dwellings imaginatively representing building patterns from across Africa, while human and mythological figures brought to life African folk-lore, beliefs and traditions as seen through his artistic vision.{{Cite web|url=https://www.joburg.org.za:443/media_/MediaStatements/Pages/2018%20Press%20Releases/City-saddened-by-the-burning-of-the-Xhosa-hut-at-the-Credo-Mutwa-Village.aspx|title=City saddened by the burning of the Xhosa hut at the Credo Mutwa Village|website=joburg.org.za|language=en-ZA|access-date=2019-06-19}} At the time, as the locals were steeped in Christianity, they were suspicious of the cultural village.{{Cite web|url=https://m.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/The-rich-heritage-of-Credo-Mutwa-20150429|title=The rich heritage of Credo Mutwa|date=2012-07-20|website=News24|access-date=2019-06-19}}

Credo believed that the great unrest in Johannesburg and the popularisation of communism in the black struggle drew Africans away from their traditional roots. Unlike most political activists, he actually supported a separation between white and black in order to preserve black traditional tribal customs and way of life.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mG3jxSTEHo4C&pg=PA186|title=Religion, Violence, Memory, and Place|last1=Stier|first1=Oren Baruch|last2=Landres|first2=J. Shawn|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2006|pages=186–187|isbn=0253347998|access-date=6 September 2014}} In 1976, students partially burnt down the cultural village after he was misquoted on Afrikaans radio, as they saw the village promoting tribalism and separate development.{{cite web|title=The rich heritage of Credo Mutwa|url=http://www.citypress.co.za/lifestyle/the-rich-heritage-of-credo-mutwa-20120720/|date=20 July 2012|work=City Press|location=South Africa|access-date=5 September 2014|archive-date=29 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729201849/http://www.citypress.co.za/lifestyle/the-rich-heritage-of-credo-mutwa-20120720/|url-status=dead}} Parts of the village was burnt again in the mid-1980s during a strike against the West Rand city council.

File:Credo_Mutwa_Sculpture.jpg with his gods]]

Following the murder of his son by black political "activists" and the second burning of his village, Credo moved away from Soweto and developed a cultural tourist village in Lotlamoreng, Mahikeng, (known at that time as Bophuthatswana). Here he supervised the building of small cultural villages, each representing the traditional cultures of the main South African tribal peoples.{{cite web|title=Credo Mutwa|url=http://www.inspirational-black-literature.com/credo-mutwa.html|publisher=Inspirational Black Literature|access-date=10 September 2014}}{{cite web|title=Mahikeng - North West Province|url=http://www.tourismnorthwest.co.za/mafikeng/|publisher=Tourism North West Province|access-date=10 September 2014}}

The Kwa-Khaya Lendaba cultural village in Soweto is currently being restored and is still open to the public free of charge. Tour guides are available from the caretaker of the village.{{cite web|title=Credo Mutwa Cultural Village|url=http://www.southafrica.net/media/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-credo-mutwa-cultural-village|publisher=South African Tourism|access-date=10 September 2014|archive-date=14 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814174711/http://www.southafrica.net/media/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-credo-mutwa-cultural-village|url-status=dead}}

Although many of the sculptures at Kwa-Khaya Lendaba were unfamiliar to the Africans they were meant to represent, a number of them have been said to be prophetic in nature. Most notably, were claims of predicting the coming of HIV/AIDS to South Africa. This was seen in his fictional sculptures of King Khandakhulu, who had 200 wives. He couldn't satisfy them all sexually, and so they went out and satisfied themselves elsewhere, which led to them all contracting incurable sexually transmitted infections. The sores on King Khandakhulu's penis resemble the AIDS ribbon. These sculptures were created in 1979, three years before scientists uncovered the human immunodeficiency virus. Claims of his other predictions include the destruction of World Trade Centres in the September 11 attacks, Chris Hani's assassination, and the ousting of president Thabo Mbeki, among others.{{cite web|title=Mbeki's Darkest Hour: sangoma predicted his ouster in 1999|url=http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/zuma27.18898.html|date=13 November 2009|publisher=New Zimbabwe.com|access-date=6 September 2014|archive-date=15 August 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130815001253/http://www.newzimbabwe.com/pages/zuma27.18898.html|url-status=dead}}

Mutwa was an active and vocal advocate in the use of traditional African medicines for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, cancer and tuberculosis.{{cite web|title=Medicinal plant fights Aids|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1683259.stm|date=30 November 2001|publisher=BBC News|access-date=3 September 2014}} He created a trust called the Vulinda Trust in 1999 to preserve traditional knowledge and to promote the use of these traditional medicines. The primary focus of his research had been on a South African plant called unwele in Zulu (Sutherlandia frutescens). Unwele is traditionally used as a wellbeing tonic, and has also demonstrated anticancer activity through in vitro studies.{{cite book |last1=van Wyk|first1=Ben-Erik|last2=van Oudtshoorn|first2=Bosch|last3=Gericke|first3=Nigel|year=1999|title=Medicinal Plants of South Africa|page=280|location=Pretoria|publisher=Briza Publications|isbn=978-1-875093-37-3}}{{cite journal |last1=Tai|first1=Joseph|last2=Cheung|first2=Susan|last3=Chan|first3=Edwin|title=In vitro culture studies of Sutherlandia frutescens on human tumor cell lines|journal=Journal of Ethnopharmacology|volume=93|issue=1|pages=9–19|date=8 June 2004|issn=0378-8741|doi=10.1016/j.jep.2004.02.028|pmid=15182898}} Research of the efficacy of Sutherlandia frutescens in the treatment of HIV/AIDS is ongoing and phase IIb trials are being conducted at the South African Herbal Science and Medicine Institute (SAHSMI).{{cite journal|last1=Johnson|first1=Quinton |last2= Syce|first2=James|last3= Nell|first3=Haylene|title=A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Lessertia frutescens in Healthy Adults|journal=PLOS Clinical Trials|volume=2|issue=4|page=16|date=27 April 2007|doi=10.1371/journal.pctr.0020016|pmc=1863514|pmid=17476314 |doi-access=free }}{{cite web|title=Sutherlandia plant begins HIV drug safety trials|url=http://www.scidev.net/global/indigenous/news/-i-sutherlandia-i-plant-begins-hiv-drug-safety-trials.html|date=10 February 2011|publisher=SciDev Net|access-date=3 September 2014}}

David Icke aligned himself with Mutwa's theory of a "reptilian agenda" – i.e. that "a reptilian race" evolved on earth and not of alien origin, has controlled the world for thousands of years". He made reference to their earthly origins on video in an Icke interview.[http://credomutwa.com/interviews/david-icke-interview-reptilian-agenda/ David Icke interview – Reptilian Agenda][https://vimeo.com/31805036 Credo Mutwa & David Icke - The Reptilian Agenda][https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_credo_mutwa03.htm Credo Mutwa on Alien Abduction an Reptiles]David Chidester, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24764371?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "Credo Mutwa, Zulu Shaman: The Invention and Appropriation of Indigenous Authenticity in African Folk Religion"], Journal for the Study of Religion, Vol. 15, No. 2 (2002), pp. 65–85.

Mutwa is recorded as having made statements in support of apartheid. One of his books - My People: The Incredible Writings of a Zulu witch-doctor {{ISBN|014003210X}} - contains such statements, primarily referring to practices amongst the Zulu that, in his eyes, justified the implementation of that system.

• Indaba, My Children (1964). {{ISBN|0-8021-3604-4}}, 1st American edition (March 1999)
• Zulu Shaman: Dreams, Prophecies, and Mysteries. {{ISBN|0-89281-129-3}}, 2nd edition (10 October 2003)
• Songs of the Stars. {{ISBN|1-886449-01-5}}, 1st edition (May 2000)
• Africa Is My Witness, Johannesburg: Blue Crane Books, 1966. ISBN unknown
• The Reptilian Agenda with David Icke and Credo Mutwa - the complete series.
• My People, the Writings of a Zulu Witch-Doctor (Penguin Books, 1977)[https://www.amazon.co.uk/MY-PEOPLE-Writings-Zulu-Witch-Doctor/dp/B001UC0DT0] {{ISBN|0-14-003210-X}}
• Let Not My Country Die Publisher: United Publishers International (1986) Language: English {{ISBN|978-0620102902}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web|title=Credo Vusamazulu Mutwa|date=22 May 2013 |url=http://nladesignvisual.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/credo-vusamazulu-mutwa/|publisher=NLA Design and Visual Arts|access-date=10 September 2014}}
• {{cite web|title=Credo Mutwa Cultural Village |url=http://www.gauteng.net/attractions/entry/credo_mutwa_cultural_village/|publisher=Gauteng Tourism|access-date=10 September 2014}}
• {{cite book|last1=Taylor|first1=Bron|last2=Chester|first2=David|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i4mvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1140|publisher=A&C Black|access-date=10 September 2014|year=2008|pages=1139–1148|isbn=978-1847062734}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141031052347/http://www.sabc.co.za/wps/portal/intsales/pages/documentariesdetail?id=62998d004924a81e9e91ff91a9e5932b&page_from=documentaries SABC Documentary - June 1976 Burning the house of Credo Mutwa]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140714201837/http://www.globalonenessproject.org/people/credo-mutwa Credo Mutwa Global Oneness Project]
• [http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_credo_mutwa04.htm Credo Mutwa Biography]

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