Muti

This article is about southern African traditional medicine. For other uses including the family name 'Muti', see Muti (disambiguation).

Muti is a term for traditional medicine in Southern Africa as far north as Lake Tanganyika. The word muti is derived from the Zulu word for tree, of which the root is -thi. In Southern Africa, the word muti is in widespread use in most indigenous African languages, as well as in South African English and Afrikaans where it is sometimes used as a slang word for medicine in general.

Traditional medicine

African Traditional medicine makes use of various natural products, many derived from trees and other plants. Botanical medicine prescribed by an inyanga or herbal healer is generally known as muti, but the term muti also applies to other traditional medical formulations, including those that are zoological or mineral in composition.

Linguistics

This noun is of the umu / imi class, consequently the singular (tree) is rendered Umuthi and plural (trees) is Imithi. Since the pronunciation of the initial vowel of this umu / imi class of Zulu noun, is unstressed, the singular Umuthi is sometimes heard as 'Muthi'. The word is rendered as muti due to the historical effects of British Colonial spelling.

Colloquial use

In colloquial English and Afrikaans the word muti is often used to refer to medicines in general or medicines that have a 'miraculous' effect, e.g.

• "Die dokter het 'muti' op die seerplek gesmeer en die volgende dag was dit heeltemal gesond." (The doctor rubbed 'muti' on the wound and the next day it was completely healed.)

• "My dokter het vir my 'muti' verskaf vir my seer keel." ("My doctor gave me some 'muti' for my sore throat.")

"Muti killings"

Main article: Medicine murder

Occasions of murder and mutilation associated with some traditional cultural practices, in Southern Africa are also termed Muti killings. Muti killings, more correctly known as medicine murder are not human sacrifice in a religious sense, but rather involve the murder of someone in order to excise body parts for incorporation as ingredients into medicine and concoctions used in witchcraft.

In 2010 Muti (also known as Muthi) killings are on the rise in South Africa. Some South Africans, especially in the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces, believe that the harvested body parts of children or old people will assist in them becoming rich and powerful.

"Deputy Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service, William Mpembe said...muthi murders, particularly those involving young children, seem to be on the rise in the Tshwane areas including Soshanguve, Garankua and Rietgat." - Sowetan Newspaper. 22 February 2010.

This from news24.com: "Congress of SA Students (Cosas) Soshanguve leader, Thabo Nsako, urged traditional healers at the seminar to "stop killing children for muti. "Your duty is to protect us, not to kill us. Ancestors can never [tell] you to kill people." He said Western countries saw the practice as witchcraft and wanted nothing to do with it because of practices such as muti-killings."It is your fault," he told the healers. Nduku defended traditional healers, saying they had nothing to do with killing humans or using their body parts for healing."

See also

• Medicine murder
• Sangoma
• Inyanga
• Traditional medicine
• Death of Masego Kgomo

External links

• "Sangoma / Muti / South African Traditional Healers / South African Witchdoctors" 9 June 2009
• "I was forced to kill my baby" - 2 April 2002
• "Medicinal plant 'fights' Aids" - 30 November 2001
• "Muti killings on the rise in KZN" - October 31 2007
• "Police find body parts in walls of hair salon" - December 13 2006