INSECT KILLS ZULU PROPHET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22612, 2 July 1935, Page 11

INSECT KILLS ZULU PROPHET

A Zulu “prophet,” who is said to have had visions as compelling as those of Joan of Arc, and who converted more than 40,000 native men, women, and children to Christianity in 30 years, died recently—poisoned by the sting of an insect. He was the 60-year-old Shemba, who left four wives in order that he might go about preaching Christianity. He was the richest native in Natal, and he died in a mud hut in Zululand. For 30 years this extraordinary man journeyed about Natal in white robes preaching to the natives, leading pilgrimages of his followers into the mountains to fast and pray, and laying hands on the sick. Ho adapted the methods of the Biblical prophets to modern times and converted barbaric instincts into spiritual fervour. Hundreds of natives claimed to have been cured 'by him. On his conversion to Christianity he provided for his wives, and lived apart from them. He obtained his money from free-will offerings and rents and bought land on which to settle his followers. Hundreds of natives trekked white-robed and carrying shepherds’ staves, to attend the funeral at his model village, where all the food and grain was shared on a communal system. It is called Ekupakameni, which means “the place of spiritual uplift.” Shemba, whose daughter Zondi was married to Solomon, King of the Zulus, was slender, ascetic, of a refined appearance, and very humorous. His movement swept from one end of Zululand to the other, and there are two communal settlements, each with thousands of inhabitants.