“Emerging Forms of Authority in Land Access?”: The Occult and Witchcraft Among Malawian Migrants in Peri-urban Zimbabwe

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the role of religion and ritual in facilitating access to and security over land among migrants in peri-urban Zimbabwe. The chapter is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out among Malawians settled in Lydiate, an informal settlement in Zimbabwe’s Norton peri-urban area. The study shows that though they are not the only sources of access to and security over land, religion and ritual-based forms of authority—the Nyau cult and witchcraft—play a role in land matters. Migrants turn to the enchanting, dramatic, yet dreadful Nyau cult to access and reinforce their ownership of land. Because it is feared and respected by adherents on account of its association with deathly symbols, the cult is able to yield and secure land for those who seek it in its name. Others secure their land against expropriation from fellow migrants through the eccentric means of witchcraft. The migrants do not choose these alternative forms of authority out of preference; very often there are no formal institutions that they can use. Legal courts and local authorities are often unsympathetic toward their interests. Thus, migrant squatter settlements have become dynamic spaces with novel forms of authority regulating access to coveted resources such as land.