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Illustration of South African witchcraft zombie
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
Ifayela No. 438 kwangu-446

South African witchcraft zombie

Ibuye libizwe: xidachane, maduxwane, witch-train zombies
Amasiko nezinganekwaneAbangafiUbuthakathi

In parts of South Africa, witchcraft belief includes people turned into zombies to labour for a witch. The victims are thought of as the stolen dead: small, mute and put to work at night. Stories of 'witch trains' staffed by zombies spread once railways began carrying migrant workers to the mines and cities. Scholars treat the belief as a commentary on labour exploitation, which is the same anxiety that produced the Haitian zombi.12

Lwa nayo
Imvelaphi
South African (Tsonga, Sotho, Venda)
I-South Africa
Okuyibangela
Ubuthakathi
A witch kills the victim, or makes them seem to die, and takes control of the body for forced labour.
Indlela oba ngayo yinye
A witch's spell; in some accounts even a small child can zombify a dead person.
Ubuhlakani
Abangenamqondo
Izindawo ezibuthaka
  • a sufficiently powerful sangoma (traditional healer) can break the spell
amanothi ensimini

Okushiwo yimithombo

1

Called xidachane in Sotho and Tsonga and maduxwane in Venda12

2

Imagined as shrunken in size, with the tongue cut out so that it cannot speak or protest12

3

Witch trains, ordinary-looking trains crewed by zombies, were said to abduct people at night12

4

Passengers were either zombified or beaten and thrown off far from home12

5

Anthropologist Isak Niehaus reads the belief as a picture of migrant labour and domination12

Imithombo

  1. Zombie - Wikipedia
  2. Zombies - Encyclopedia.com

Wonke amaqiniso kuleli khasi avela kule mithombo, abhalwe ngamazwi ethu. Ubone iphutha? Sitshele ku-[email protected].

Phakela isixuku. Awukho ukukhangisa, awekho abalandeli, kukhokhwa umuntu oyedwa. Ithiphu igcina isayithi isebenza.Shiya ithiphu

Amasiko avela emazweni afanayo

UmkhovuZulu, 1875

Okufana nalokhu

GhoulArabicPocongJavanese / Indonesian and MalayRo-langsTibetanToyolMalay and IndonesianXiangxi walking corpsesChinese (western Hunan; attributed to Miao sorcery)CondenadoAndean (Peru and Bolivia)
Phakela isixukuShiya ithiphu