By Theresa Takafuma
Mbuya Kanengoni, a traditional healer from Masvingo claims to have come face-to-face with vendors who sell vulture body parts that are then used for belief/faith -based purposes in Chiredzi.
She said they told her how people use the various scavenger bird parts to foretell, heal and summon spirits, adding that the so called sprouting Christian ministry churches were the biggest culprits in this practice.
The elderly traditional healer however distanced the organizations she is affiliated to, ZINATHA and Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (TMPCZ), from the use of vulture body parts in traditional medicine, saying she had done some research work with conservationists in trying to protect the endangered vultures.
“Last year I worked with a researcher from Birdlife Zimbabwe and we went to Chiredzi where we saw people selling vulture body parts, from heads, feathers, claws, bones and even the brains. We asked them what the parts were used for and they told us that self-styled prophets are the ones who buy the parts because they believe that they get superpowers from them.
“They said it was mainly ministry prophets who use the vulture parts to create talismans that they use in prophesying, which is why they end up being able to tell people’s names and addresses like, ‘your name is James, you stay at house number this and that’ as if they are accurately prophesying,” Mbuya Kanengoni said.
According to her, traditional healers registered under the ZINATHA do not use vultures in their trade, as they receive awareness from conservationist organisations like Birdlife Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Department.
Bishop Joshua Musiiwa, who is the Newlife Apostolic Church leader however said he believe that those who use vultures in prophesying are just black magicians who manipulate the vulture parts to use their dark magic charms.
“I believe this is hurombwa (use of charms for riches or power) because there is no way we can just take a vulture’s head, crush it, steam or use it anyhow without putting charms and someone then starts prophesying or healing. It is just the use of charms disguised in the use of vultures.
“My worry however is that, those in remote areas where these things are rampant do not have enough information that can deter them from senselessly killing vultures. I hope Birdlife gets to these areas so that even those who go there to buy do not find them,” Musiiwa said.
The vulture population in Zimbabwe is severely endangered, with five species namely the white-backed, white-headed, hooded, lappet-faced and Cape Vultures being critically vulnerable, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
While 61 percent of the vulture population decline in Africa is attributed to poisoning, 29 percent is still attributed to use in traditional medicine, where faith and traditional healers use vulture body parts for rituals.
On May 22, 2024 Birdlife Zimbabwe, an organization that promotes birds conservation, in conjunction with TMPCZ held a training workshop for traditional, faith-based healers, herbalists and other relevant stakeholders in Masvingo to raise awareness against the use of vultures in belief-based healing.
Speaking on the side-lines of the workshop, Birdlife Zimbabwe Preventing Extinctions Programme Manager Leeroy Gerald Moyo said what key issue was for traditional healers to know that indeed, vultures were endangered and there were laws that govern the scavenger birds.
“Various aspects came out of the workshop as some denied using vulture body parts for traditional medicine, but some do use them; however the most important thing was for them to know that there are laws that govern these vultures.
“They may use other alternatives like plants amomg other things, instead of vultures because they are endangered. We were mainly looking at the Parks and Wildlife Act Chapter 20:14 which stresses that vultures are part of the specially protected animals,” Moyo said.
Reports have also shown that those involved in vulture parts trading make brisk business as they are much sought-out for in traditional healing circles, with one full bird costing approximately US$600.
There have also been reports of traders cutting the birds to sell single body parts, with one traditional healer who refused to be named saying a head could cost between US$60 and US$100 around Chiredzi and Triangle.
“The parts are believed to work for varying purposes, for example, a head has different healing purposes to a feather, and bones serve a different purpose with wings for example,” said the healer.
TMPCZ Chief Licensing Officer Jennifer Mauzhende said the council saw it fit to collaborate with Birdlife Zimbabwe to raise awareness against the use of vultures, as there has been a lot of speculation alleging that traditional and faith healers, as well as herbalists licensed under them were the ones using vultures in medicine.
“As a council that works with traditional and faith healers, herbalists, distributors and traditional birth attendants, we saw it fit to educate them that they should look for other things to use in their work, not vultures.
“They have to know that being caught with any vulture part is a liable offence that warrants arrest. Here they were taught about the role of vultures in nature and eccosysterm, so that they do not abuse them,” Mauzhende said.
Seasoned traditional healers also argue that the use of vulture body parts in belief-based healing is a new phenomenon introduced not very long ago because healers always used other materials, be it in healing, fortune telling or foreseeing.
Sekuru Chikunya, a seasoned traditional herbalist who is also TMPCZ Masvingo Provincial Chairperson said traditional healers and prophets used to look for various other things to use in healing and ritual performance, not vultures.
“Since time immemorial, no one really used vultures for healing. We always knew that if a person gets possessed by ancestral spirits, those spirits were the ones who would make the person dream of the herbs and medicines to use.
“For prophets we knew that they would pray using salt and milk to heal people. Those of the masowe sect used muchakata tree barks (mobola plum), and no one used vultures, it is a new phenomenon in traditional and belief-based healing,” Sekuru Chikunya said.
Studies have shown that there are ecological consequences to the vulture population decline, which include changes in the community composition of scavengers at carcasses in the wild, increasing potential for disease transmission between mammalian scavengers.
The Zimbabwe Vulture Action Plan has been put in place to reduce the threats to vultures in the country, in order to protect what remains of the endangered scavenger bird.
