John Tamfu died when he was just
thirty-six years, his skin and eyeballs yellow as a result of liver failure. He
had fallen ill some six months previously and when his condition deteriorated
he was admitted to a nearby mission hospital. After a brief stay in hospital he
was discharged, sicker than when he had been admitted. The diagnosis on his
medical card read ‘incurable cancer’. Friends and relatives were shocked. Could
the doctors not see that he was not yet better? How could they discharge a man
so obviously sick? For the Wimbum the
idea of an incurable illness is totally unacceptable. It was madness to
simply wait around helplessly for someone to die, especially one so young. So John
was taken to a medicine man in a neighbouring village where he remained during
treatment. His brother, Joseph, footed the bill.
In the meantime the family elders
consulted a diviner. The diviner suspected witchcraft and accused Joseph. Then John
Tamfu died. The family consulted more diviners who may know those involved or
who may have heard rumours of accusations. The elders travelled to a number of
distant villages and consulted five different diviners. All of them, so Robert
was told, had accused Joseph of killing his brother through witchcraft. When the
elders returned to Tabenken the news spread quickly. Groups of vigilantes
formed and the hunt was opened on Joseph. In the meantime he had taken refuge
in the mission, with his witchcraft accomplice Mpemchi, however, and that was
where he stayed until the funeral.
On the day of the funeral the cemetery
behind the church was packed with people. John had been one of the leaders of
the catholic youth movement in Tabenken and was to be buried in the cemetery
and not in his compound, as tradition prescribed. The priest started to pray as
friends lowered the coffin into the grave. As he droned on someone suddenly
screamed ‘He is here!’ and everyone except the priest opened their eyes. During
prayer Joseph had arrived and was sitting on a nearby grave smoking a
cigarette. ‘You see,’ the man standing next to me said, ‘a witch always has to
come back and witness the funeral of his victim. This act confirms that he has
eaten his brother. That he is sitting and smoking adds insult to his deeds.’ A
man ran up and kicked Joseph so that he fell from his perch. He stood up and
was immediately surrounded by a hostile crowd.
‘You have killed your brother and
now you have come to confirm that he is dead,’ someone shouted. ‘It was my brother,’
he said defiantly, ‘why should I not eat him if I choose?’
A man threw him to the ground and
as he tried to stand up again someone threw a stone. Others followed and soon
everyone was looking for stones. The priest prayed on at the graveside. An opening
appearing in the crowd and Joseph sprang to his feet and ran, the crowd in hot
pursuit.
‘what will happen to him?’ Robert
asked someone. ‘They will kill him,’ he said, ‘or drive him from the village.
Later Robert heard that he had managed to escape to the mission in Nkambe.
