August 6, 2002
By Thomas Thale
IT is the only spot in the country where you'll find Shaka, the Zulu warrior standing shoulder to shoulder with Moshoeshoe, the Basotho strategist, both paying homage to Mvelinqange, the Zulu deity, with Ernest Oppenheimer, the mining magnate, staring at their pre-colonial villages below - all against the backdrop of a cosmopolitan township.
These otherwise disparate images are bound together by their placement at the Ernest Oppenheimer Park in Central Western Jabavu in Soweto. In this park, the distinction between the historical and the mythical, the living and the dead, the rural and the urban, the real and the imaginary is blurred. Its numerous trees give it an appearance of a dense forest, making it one of the few remaining bird sanctuaries in Soweto, with cultural villages giving it a relaxed countryside feel.
The park is rocky and rich in flora and fauna. The trees come in handy for local herbalists who chip their bark to use as medicine. "This is umphafi, a herb used to fetch the soul of the departed from the spot where they lost their lives, to be taken to their final resting place," Johannes Letlhake, my site guide, explains, pointing at a thorny tree. "Aloe is used to make timjan, a concoction used for purifying blood."
The most conspicuous element of the park is its tower. Strategically located in the centre of Soweto, the tower offers a bird's eye view of the sprawling township. It was built in 1957 as a tribute to Ernest Oppenheimer, for his generous contribution to the resettlement of people who had been displaced by the forced removals of the apartheid government under its "slum clearance scheme" in the 1950s. The scheme entailed removing established black communities from prime areas earmarked for white occupation.
Most of the artefacts in the park are creations of Credo Mutwa, a prominent painter, sculptor, environmentalist, herbalist, prophet and author in the 1970s.
As you approach the Khayalendaba (home of storytelling) village, you are confronted by a forbidding notice board warning "all liars, fools, sceptics and atheists" to keep out.
Mutwa's mystical Khayalendaba cultural village - home to historical and mythical African icons
A curse lasting seven years shall fall on all who destroy any part of this place, they will be unlucky in all they do, be hunted like beasts and finally die in agony in lonely places and the vultures of the sky shall eat their flesh, the board threatens ominously.
In the late 1970s, mythical figures from African cosmology, legendary African warriors and icons of African nationalism - all Mutwa's creations - moved into the villages. By far the most intriguing part of the park, these villages are home to Africa's illustrious ancestors. Through his art, Mutwa has redefined their role in the evolution of African history.
King Shaka sits proudly next to Chief Ngungunyani of the Tsonga and Moshoeshoe of Basotho - all gesturing towards the realisation of African Nationalism.
These statues are, however, dwarfed by larger-than-life indigenous God-figures. "This is Nomkhubulwane, the female Goddess worshipped by the Nguni people," Letlhake explains pointing at a huge statue in front of us. Next to her is an equally large portrait of Mvelinqange, a male deity reputedly worshipped in the pre-colonial era.
Then there is the Basotho village, complete with huts and kraals. The village tells the story of shepherds playing morabaraba whilst guarding their livestock from marauding leopards.
Mutwa also constructed an Arab village which boasts a more oriental architecture, with a mosque occupying a pride of place.
Among the permanent residents of the park are sculptures of pre-historic African mammals, presumably long extinct but reincarnated by Mutwa. One beast with three horns on its head is called "triotribes". Next to it lies a dragon-like creature called "titamogofaudon", whilst a Khoisan family looks on. Relics of the past in the park include "a fireplace previously used by Mutwa to manufacture spears, traditional jewellery and other ornaments," as Letlhake explains.
The sculptures themselves have their own story to tell. Despite obvious signs of neglect, they still stand defiantly like the figures of resilience they embody.
Mutwa's artistic endeavours seem to have rubbed off on the present generation. Not too far from the village is a new pottery school, which produces more contemporary art works. Run by Phillip Thamaga, a protégé of Mutwa, the school teaches local students how to use clay in the manufacture of sculptures, ornaments, calabashes, statues and bed-side lamps. "I use techniques I learnt form Mutwa and encourage my students to produce images of African pride," Thamaga asserts.
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