By Ben Mbangu in Choma
ALBERT Ng’andu, a 65-year-old former wizard of Choma district in Southern Province says those still doubting his repentance will have to face God for judging him.
He also warns that witchdoctors are weak vessels stressing that, “Women are touched anywhere and can accept anything they are told to do. As for men you will be finished if you allow your women to go and seek help from witchdoctors.”
Speaking when a team from Choma Museum and Crafts Centre led by an assistant keeper of ethnography and art Maambo Bwanjelela visited him to have a one-on-one interaction and probably collect any leftover witchcraft objects for exhibition, Ng’andu said he would never look back.
“Those that still think I’m lying are just troubling themselves because me now I’m repented. They will have to face God for judging me. Let them just look at me now and not my past. I will remain strong in God regardless of what others think about me,” Ng’andu, a grade seven dropout, said.
He said from now onwards he would be “in Jesus whether others like it or not”.
“I will never look back till the day I will die. I’m happy with The Mast newspaper for publishing my story and other social media blogs for helping spreading my testimony because others will repent too,” Ng’andu said.
“Thanks to The Mast newspaper for supporting me because others will just die without repenting for it is not easy to others to come out in the open but in serving God there is no shame.”
Asked how people were treating him in the community, Ng’andu explained that everyone was happy with him especially after opening up about his life.
“People in the community still did not believe that I repented when I was going round giving testimonies not until they saw it in The Mast newspaper and social media,” he said.
Ng’andu appreciated Choma Museum and Crafts Centre for showing interest in his knowledge about witchcraft as well as visiting him.
“It is humbling that you as Museum staff have come to learn more about me and my works,” he said.
And Ng’andu warned men against allowing their women to go to witchdoctors saying they were weak vessels who give it all without limitations.
“Talking from experience as someone who was a healer and practiced witchcraft, I’m discouraging men from allowing their women to go to witchdoctors because they give unlimited access. I troubled a lot of women in that manner. It is dangerous to allow women to go and seek help from witchdoctors,” he said.
“A woman is helpless when desperate and loses sense of choice even when married. Women are touched anywhere and can accept anything they are told to do. As for men you will be finished if you allow your women to go and seek help from witchdoctors.”
Asked about regrets, Ng’andu said “I regret for the broken marriages I caused and other atrocities I caused. There were happily married couples that I separated.”
“I went through pain before I gave my life to Jesus and now I separated.”
“I went through pain before I gave my life to Jesus and now I understand better. I have shared my testimony in 33 places in the chiefdom to discourage witchcraft practices. My appeal is to those others still practicing witchcraft to change their ways and follow Jesus,” he said.
Ng’andu narrated that life of charms required killing every now and then “to feed the spirits or else the owner would die”.
“If you don’t take care of your spirits they will kill you and your family so that is one of the sad part about that dark life,” he explained.
“I was ugly than the way I look now when I was practicing witchcraft. But now I’m handsome. Satan makes people look ugly,” he said.
On charms, Ng’andu said those used for job promotion were roots from “under the water”.
“I could mix these charms with roots of a certain tree found in water to bath at night where roads meet or crossroads and then drop money there for anyone to pick in the morning. I used to charge K200,000, old currency, of which now maybe would be somewhere around K800,” he said.
“This tree is rarely seen so I used to find it along Choma Secondary School road. There is a stream with a bridge were it used to germinate from. Once someone baths in the charms, they will be just rising in ranks just like the tree is evergreen in the river.”
Ng’andu narrated how he became a sorcerer.
“I sold a cow to buy charms in Malawi. So there you buy what you want. All charms were listed on the black board and I choose charms to kill whoever hated me and bewitched me. And with time other friends came to exchange their charms with mine and that’s how now all loose broke up to an extent of reaching a level of practicing witchcraft and the end results were evil,” he narrated.
Asked if there was an exhibit he could surrender to the museum, Ng’andu said it was too late because everything was burnt by men of God who prayed for him.
“You are late. I wish you come earlier to collect these things. Now I no longer keep anything because once I touch charms I dream about all those that died. Once I touch charms there is no peace. It’s just dead people appearing in my sleep. Yes, I know all the roots and how to mix it but I can’t share with anyone because it is same as killing or practicing witchcraft which I gave up for Jesus Christ,” said Ng’andu.
Rosina Siyokwa, one of hi wives, said her husband used juju to lure them into marriage.
“We were seven, others got divorced. Before our husband repented he was a cruel man. A fighter and drunkard. If you look at him he would beat you just for that,” said Rosina.
“He used to beat us, his wives, but now we thank God he repented. And people in the community never liked us because of his life of charms.”
Meanwhile, Bwanjelela said the visit was beneficial to the museum because the findings will be documented and exhibited in the museum.
“As a museum we decided to undertake this research trip to Mboole to have a-one-on-one interaction with Mr Ng’andu. Our findings are not different from what we read in The Mast newspaper. According to Mr Ng’andu he combined witchcraft and traditional healing. Unfortunately, we did not find any objects for collection as they were burnt in 2006,” noted Bwanjelela.
“He had spiritual powers which he at times never understood as well of which much of it was the defensive type, where his enemies would die if they insisted on attacking him. Besides that, he used to give people herbal medicine for different ailments at a fee.”
A musuem intern Natasha Makonde said Christian religious system and witchcraft had similar core function in that when a Christian is oppressed they turned to God for help while those who believed in traditional remedies turned to witchcraft for defence.
Assistant education officer Emmanuel Hamatwi said the case of Ng’andu can be used to validate the existence of witchcraft and the practice of sorcery as well as supernatural power to harm or help others.
“The practice of witchcraft was acceptable in traditional communities but in other communities, witches were banned, excommunicated, attacked or executed. Mr Ng’andu is genuinely repented and he can be used as an example of the triumph of good over evil. The power of faith in Christ is the ultimate winner over the darkness of witchcraft. He can be a goodwill ambassador of faith,” noted Hamatwi.
Meanwhile, assistant keeper of history Betty Zulu said Ng’andu’s case was a clear testimony that witchcraft was real and people were being tormented.
“We over shun it by trying to put a blind eye on it like nothing happens. So with Mr Ng’andu coming out, I would say that as a museum we are hoping to put up an exhibition which can talk about the history of witchcraft in the case study of Mr Ng’andu about how he started practicing witchcraft or joined of which according to him it was through what people were doing to him,” said Zulu.