Africa-Press – Eswatini. Tragedy struck a Ndwandwe family after it lost four members after drinking a traditional concoction (indayela) during a prayer in preparation for a church service.
Indayela is a Zulu term for the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) holy tea and in Sesotho it is called ‘Tea ya bophelo,’ which means ‘Tea of life’.
Seven others were admitted in a critical condition at the Mkhuzweni Health Centre.
They were part of 18 people who drank the concoction while at Timambeni, which is under Mhlangatane.
Among the deceased was the widow, Elizabeth Magagula-Ndwandwe, who was said to have organised a prayer service in preparation for her husband’s cleansing ceremony, which was to be held over the weekend.
Also deceased was Elizabeth’s sister, Madedeya Magagula-Shungube, her niece Busisiwe Magagula-Mvila and Fana Mabuza.
Mabuza is said to have been visiting his sister in the Ndwandwe family when he met his death while Busisiwe and Madedeya were at the homestead in preparation for the cleansing ceremony.
The incident, which has left the community in shock, is said to have happened yesterday at around 1am.
The four are said to have been confirmed dead upon arrival at Mkhuzweni Health centre yesterday morning.
According to one of the surviving family members, Timothy Ndwandwe, who also ingested the concoction but was treated and discharged together with six others, it was a norm at the Pentecostal Church in Zion from Luphikweni to prepare and drink indayela during services.
Timothy said the family was also used to having church services at the homestead where the concoction would be drank as part of prayer.
However, he said he did not know what went wrong this time around as nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
He said they have never fallen sick before and they were still shocked by the incident, especially as it happened during a service for a cleansing ceremony.
“We are used to indayela but this one was different as it had a strange taste and it smelt like cabbage,” said Timothy.
He said they all fell sick immediately after drinking the concoction as they complained of excruciating pain in their stomachs.
Others, according to Timothy, collapsed and started having convulsions while others threw up.
“It was shocking as everybody who was in the house where the prayer was held and drank the tea called out for help. Personally, I do not recall most of what happened as I only gained consciousness while on the way to hospital in the morning,” he said.
Timothy was found with his nephew and other church members in one of the wards where they were administered intravenous injection.
Some of the church members were still clad in their church gowns and among them was a young boy, who was unable to talk as a result of pain.
Pastor Mthobisi Shongwe (37) from Pentecostal Church in Zion said he was still confused by the incident, adding that it was the first time he experienced such.
Shongwe said it was not the first time they held a service at the Ndwandwe homestead, adding that they were used to preparing and drinking indayela.
The pastor highlighted that during their church service last week, the Ndwandwe family asked them as the church to come for a prayer before the cleansing ceremony.
He said they went to the Ndwandwe homestead with seven church members and the rest were members of the Ndwandwe family and other close relatives.
The cleansing was for Elizabeth’s husband.
He said as per the norm, they prepared a fire outside where the concoction was left to brew while the prayer continued inside one of the houses.
“We had asked someone to look after the indayela while we prayed. At about 1am we then took the indayela into the house where we were praying to drink it. We did not suspect anything because everyone there was known, especially as this was not something new to us,” said Shongwe.
However, the clergyman, without mentioning who the person they asked was, he said they noticed that the concoction had a different smell than usual.
“It had the smell of a cabbage,” said Shongwe and jokingly added that the smell should have made them alert to the calamity that would befall them in a few minutes.
The man of the cloth added that while they were about to drink the indayela, they realised that there were not enough cups, hence decided to share the few they had.
Shongwe said as they drank the indayela, he saw some of the church members and Ndwandwe family members collapsing while screaming out and clutching their stomachs and others throwing up.
“We immediately started praying for them as we did not know what was happening. We did not suspect that it had something to do with the tea as we thought they were being attacked by demons. While praying for one, another would also collapse screaming in pain and we would rush to that person and this kept happening until we realised that this was not a common demon and suspected poisoning from the tea,” he said.
The pastor added that they then tried got milk, which they gave to all those who were sick and some immediately threw up.
“Others, however, did not respond even after being given the milk and means were made to transport them to hospital.”
He further said that the affected people acted like they were losing their minds and their feet were twitching and twisting.
Shongwe said this confused them so much such that they later decided to take them out of the house thinking that it was haunted.
“When we look at this thing through the eye, not spiritually, we can say that this was something that was supposed to happen during the cleansing ceremony. It’s just that it happened during the prayer and there was nothing much we could do. However, this was not normal,” he opined.
On the person who was asked to watch over the pot, Shongwe said their focus was primarily on those who were sick and rushing them to hospital. He said he had no idea whether the person tasked to guard the concoction was still around when the incident unfolded.
Deputy Police Information and Communications Officer, Inspector Nosipho Mnguni, said four people were reported to have died at a certain homestead, adding that the police were interviewing a man who was assisting them in relation to the matter.
The incident comes about three months after a family of three, including a husband and wife and their 12-year-old daughter, were said to have died after drinking indayela at Mdzangwini.
The family was found in their house by a church member who rushed there after trying to get hold of the father, who was a pastor of Religious in Christ Church.
Their son, who was also in the house but was found unconscious, dismissed suspicions that his parents and sister died after drinking the concoction.
He also dismissed suggestions that there could have been a gas leak from the cylinder used to prepare the indayela.
The son was last reported to be still waiting for post-mortem results, which would confirm the cause of his family’s demise.
Four family members still critical
The Ndwandwe family was the hard hit as Elizabeth’s four children remain in a critical condition at the Mkhuzweni Health Centre.
The children are three young men, two of whom are married and have been admitted together with their wives at the same facility.
Some of the three siblings were administered intravenous injection while one of them was in a very critical state and had to be given oxygen.
It was said some children were spared as they did not drink the concoction.
Some of them are said to have helped in calling for neighbours and relatives with cars to come and rush those who were sick to hospital.
At least four cars were used to transport the sick to hospital as an ambulance was not available at the time.
Breast milk saves woman
The adage that ‘desperate situations call for desperate measures’ rang true for Sisana Matsaba, a mother to a two-month-old boy.
Matsaba upon suspecting that they had ingested ‘poison’ is said to have drank her breast milk to salvage the situation.
She was among the 18 people who drank the alleged poisoned indayela and had to be rushed to Mkhuzweni health centre where she was treated and discharged with five others.
Quick thinking is said to have saved her as she may have ended up in hospital or at worst, counted among the dead.
This was after she realised that other congregants and family members were falling sick. As a result of her quick thinking, Matsaba is said to have been mildly affected.
Matsaba was found in hospital with her baby, whom she was seen breastfeeding while being attended to by medical staff.
When they were being transported to hospital, Matsaba was more conscious when compared to the other congregants and family members.
On the other hand, some of the people who were found within hospital premises said they suspected that an animal substance had been added to the concoction.
They said the way the people reacted, indicated that it was not the indayela but it some muti of an animal.
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