Page 68 - Heritage Streets of KwaMashu 2025

64 HERITAGE STREETS OF KWA-MASHU
Mamogaswa (mama watu/mama wamanzi) is both respected and feared by humans. It is particularly feared by people for the destruction it sometimes causes when it moves from one water pool to another prematurely (more research is needed). It is then that strong winds demolish houses, uproot trees and cause destruction along the way. People believe that houses with shining new corrugated iron roofs are usually targeted by mamogaswa since it associates such reflecting surfaces with water.
It is also believed that mamogaswa occasionally vomits into the water where it lives. Such water then has a healing potential when drunk by the ill. It can also strengthen people, particularly chiefs, when they bathe in the water. In the last
instance, mamogaswa is also associated with rainmakers. The people of the Langa and Matlala still believe that mamogaswa occasionally, when it is approached by rainmakers in the correct way, will expose a small part of its back above the water. They are then allowed to cut out a small piece of its hide which is then used to make the strongest rain medicine conceivable. According to the experts, these beliefs also explain why some rainmakers have better success than others in ensuring enough rain during the growth season. (S.Afr.Tydskr.Etnol., \1999,22(1) F.e. de Beer, Unisa).
In Africa, mountains attract people.
Ntunjambili – a mountain at Kwa Maphumulo. “Ntunjambili!”