Page 376 - Volume 2_CHANGES_merged_with links

African Solutions for African Problems

Their country. Their people. Their culture.

• Zigzag path: Take a zigzag path to the burial site to confuse the dead if he tries to go back
home.
• Obstacles: Throw such obstacles as thorns, branches, or other barriers on the path, again
to make it difficult for him to find his way home.

Mourning Customs
Mourning rituals may continue for at least a week after the burial, notes Mourning Rituals and

Practices in Contemporary South African Townships. During the formal mourning period
traditional practices include:

• Not leaving the house or socializing
• Abstaining from sexual activity
• Not talking or laughing loudly

• Wearing black clothes, armbands or pinning pieces of black cloth to the mourner's clothing
• Men and women of the family shaving their hair, including facial hair, which symbolizes death
and new life”
"Death Rituals in Africa" 429
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There are many obvious ways to visualise the gap that separates much of m'zuŋ u culture
from Africa and Africans.

Property Sales in rural Africa

Richard's father arrives. As the local Parish Chairman, he is charged with a wide range of
civil responsibilities including being the first level magistrate. He sits on a plastic chair near

the internet cafe. Soon 2 groups of Africans arrive.

Each group represents one side of a property sale. One group is the seller
accompanied by some of his neighbours. The other group is the buyer accompanied by

some of his friends.

For perhaps 30 or more minutes, everyone is allowed to ask and answer questions
related to the property sale. When all seems agreed, Richard's father, as 'parish chairman'

come 'magistrate' dictates to one person a paragraph into what looks like a schoolboy's
exercise book. Having finished his summary of the key details of the property sale, he gets

each of the people from both parties to 'sign' their mark.

Such is the traditional way to sell rural property. There are no lawyers, no legal costs.
There are no drawings done to scale, nor any sketches. Key points marking the boundaries

are detailed by references to specific trees, rocks and other features of the land.