Benedict Daswa: Good news soon?

Soon South Africa could see its very first beatification if the pope decides to beatify the martyr Benedict Daswa. STUART GRAHAM finds out more.

The quiet bushveld village of Nweli in Limpopo could soon find itself in the gaze of the world’s media as the Vatican considers a proposal to beatify South Africa’s first martyr.

Benedict Daswa was murdered by a mob on February 2, 1990, after he tried to convince elders in the village not to take part in a witchhunt after lightning struck a row of huts.

We will hear by the end of the year, but so far all pointers indicate that the cause will go through, said Sr Claudette Hiosan, who is leading Daswa’s sainthood cause.

It could happen fairly soon after that. The cause is for martyrdom and therefore he does not need to have performed a [Church-recognised] miracle [through intercession].

Tzaneen diocesan officials presented an initial case for Daswa’s beatification to the Vatican in 2009. The case was based on his writings and interviews with those who knew him.

The Vatican’s investigation was completed in 2010 and all the official documents were sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in Rome.

The congregation will examine the cause for his sainthood in October.

Their judgment will then be presented to the cardinal prefect and other archbishops and bishops of the sacred congregation for their approval. If that is received, it will then be given to the Holy Father for the seal of his approval and the setting of a date for the beatification, Sr Hiosan explained.

Sr Hiosan said witchcraft is on the increase throughout Africa and this could be one of the reasons why the cause is being fast-tracked.

The problem formed part of the discussions of the Second Synod of Bishops for Africa in 2009.

In his apostolic exhortation on the synod, Africae munus, Pope Benedict XVI noted: Old fears are re-surfacing and creating paralysing bonds of subjection. Anxiety over health, well-being, children, the climate, and protection from evil spirits, at times lead people to have recourse to practices of traditional African religions that are incompatible with Christian teaching.

Witchcraft is certainly very alive and well up here, said Sr Hiosan. In fact, the growth in devil worship and people involved in the occult is a worldwide phenomenon.

Benedict Daswa was born in Venda on June 16, 1946, as Tshimangadzo Samuel Daswa.

He was raised among the Lemba, a tribe which claims affinity to the Jewish culture. His boyhood years were spent herding goats and cattle.

After school, he joined a group of Catholics who met for instruction in the faith under a fig tree.

A village catechist inspired him to convert from traditional beliefs to Christianity and so Daswa was baptised on April 21, 1963. He was confirmed shortly after, taking the name Benedict after St Benedict, the 16th century son of slaves brought from Africa to Sicily.

Daswa qualified as a teacher and became active in his community through teachers’ unions, sport and local politics.

He married Shadi Eveline Monyai, with whom he had eight children, and became principal of Nweli primary school.

His contribution to the community was enormous.

He helped build a church and started a vegetable garden where youngsters could grow food for their families and sell produce to pay for school fees and uniforms.

But Daswa, who was known for running errands in his bakkie, was also fervently against superstition and the often-deadly witchhunts which are practised in the area.

He had often stood up for people accused of witchcraft and even had to cut his ties with a football team he founded, because he wouldn’t let the players carry lucky charms.

It was this rift with traditional culture that would ultimately cost him his life.

In January 1990 when unseasonal lightning struck the homes in Nweli.

The village headman called a meeting of elders at a cattle kraal. It was decided that a sangoma be hired to deal with the unseasonal weather, which the elders blamed on witchcraft.

Daswa argued rigorously against it. Lightning was natural, he explained. Witchhunts, which killed men and women unnecessarily, had to stop. A week later, while driving home, Daswa slowed his bakkie to a stop after finding his path blocked by a log.

He climbed out of the bakkie so that he could move the log. While he was doing so he was confronted by a mob of young men.

The men pelted him with stones, chased him across a field and into a pub.

The blow that probably killed him came from a knobkerrie that crushed his skull. When they were sure Daswa was dead, the attackers poured boiling water over his head.

The date was February 2, 1990 – coincidentally the day President FW de Klerk unbanned the liberation movements.

No one was ever prosecuted for the crime.

Now, more than 24 years on, some of his killers still walk past his small headstone each day. It’s difficult to find a person in Nweli who doesn’t have a story about Daswa’s compassion and warmth, said Sr Hiosan.

There needs to be justice, of course, she said. But forgiveness and justice are two separate things.

Forgiveness is a Christian virtue. We have let go of any desire to get even or to retaliate, she said. Justice is in the realm of the courts and the police. Forgiveness is very different from justice.

Those who knew Daswa say that reopening the investigation into his death would accomplish little.

Simon Khaukanani, who once taught villagers about the Catholic faith alongside Daswa, regularly prays at his friend’s graveside.

He said those he holds responsible for Daswa’s death have never attended the graveside gatherings.

We cannot even talk to these people and say, Let us talk together about reconciliation. Because we have different beliefs, he told Associated Press in an interview in 2012.

Mr Khaukanani added: Benedict wanted to see unity among the community. Praying together, doing everything together.

Chris Maphaphuli, who was inspired by Daswa to become a teacher and counted him as a friend, said Daswa had faults.

He could be sharp-tongued, but was quick to apologise. He could be boastful about his faith, but he kept to his promises. He was a respected man, relatively rich, and that stirred jealousy.

Daswa’s commitment to resisting superstition became all too public, Mr Maphaphuli told AP.

It is then that they started to hate him. To hunt him. Because they wanted to do away with him.

Sr Hiosan said the diocese is trying to get further funding for the cause, which has cost more than R1,5 million so far.

We could have a beatification on our hands next year and this will be expensive, she said.

We are in an incredibly poor rural area. We will need to have the grave site upgraded. The remains will have to be exhumed and verified as that is part of the process.

Sr Hiosan said a 10-hectare site has been earmarked for the beatification.

There is an incredible amount of expense associated with that. There are town planner’s fees and buildings that need to be constructed. An unreal amount of money is needed.

For more information contact Sr Hiosan on 015 307 5244 or e-mail . To contribute to the cause, deposits can be made to account name: Diocese of Tzaneen: Benedict Daswa Cause, Standard Bank, account 330911538, branch 052749.