In 1923, Andreas Shoko received divine guidance through a series of dreams that he should join the Zion Church. He explained his dreams to his friends and the leaders of the ZAFM church in South Africa. The interpretation of his dreams was that he should join the ZAFM church since God had a mission with him. He was led to the Zion Jordan, a small river outside Pretoria and was baptized by Engenas Lekganyane as a Zionist member of the Zion Apostolic Faith Mission Church (ZAFM). According to Bishop Jamson Pedzisai, on the day of baptism both Shoko and Mutendi feared to get into the water since they were not used to baptism by immersion because it was not practised at the Dutch Reformed Church. They had to argue, with Mutendi saying, “iwe tanga nokuti ndiwe mudiki” (you must be baptized first since you are the youngest and Shoko responded by saying that the eldest one must be baptized first).
According to Daneel (1971:292), Shoko affirmed, “we went into the river together with Samuel Mutendi after we had confessed our sins”. It is at baptism that Joni Chinatsira was given the new name Andreas and he took his totem (Shoko) to be his new surname. It is a common practice in the ZAFM church the converts change their names to new ones at baptism. However, the name Andreas Shoko never appeared on Shoko’s national identity card. After baptism, Shoko took a year before he received the Holy Spirit (Daneel, 1971:292). According to Muringo (not real name) during the focus group discussions, Shoko could dream having filled with the Holy Spirit but could not make sense of his dreams. In one of the dreams as Daneel (1971:297) pointed out, Shoko dreamt of himself climbing a high mountain that Bishop Jamson Pedzisai confirmed to be Nyuni Mountain that is close to his home area at Museva. When he reached the top, he came across a troop of baboons that were very terrified when they saw his white face and they all fell over the cliff. When he came down the mountain on his way back, Shoko found the baboons lying dead at the mountain foot. This dream had some religious interpretation. When Shoko narrated his dream to the prophet, he was told that he was going to be filled with the Holy Spirit, symbolised by the white face in the dream. He was also told that he would cast evil spirits out of many people as was symbolised by the dead baboons at the foot of the mountain.
Apart from the tremendous personal influence of Lekganyane and the pleasant surprise at the efficient way in which Africans could run a church of their own, there were a number of other aspects that appealed to Andreas Shoko’s conversion to the ZAFM church.
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Firstly, this Sotho church had found a mythical chapter in the Bible, Revelations 14v1, which narrates about Zion (Daneel, 1971). The identification and association of the lamb with Mount Zion was so appealing to Shoko. Apparently, the historical background of the mission church, such as that of the Dutch Reformed Church with which he was familiar, could hardly have had any direct existential value in these circumstances; neither were missionaries making any effort to directly or indirectly link African way of life to the primitive Christian community of the New Testament (Daneel, 1971 cited in Mazarire, 2004). Therefore, the literal interpretations by Africans of such texts as Revelation 14v1, Romans 11v26 and John 12v12 were most appealing to Shoko.
Jesus’ presence was extended more directly through the name Zion and thus with a movement of Africanised worship than it would have been if his presence became tangible only through a haze of foreign and European impregnated history (Mazarire, 2004). Through this new name, and because of the verses they derived from it, the identification of Mount Zion with the lamb was both simplified and much more direct for God’s black children of Africa (Mazarire, 2004). More importantly, as Mateo during the focus group discussions said, the Zionist church in South Africa had Mweya (spirit) which could guide and strengthen the believers. Furthermore, the Zionist prophetic activities with their revelatory spells of spirit possession were familiar against the background of Shona divination (Mazarire, 2004). Daneel (1971) said that Shoko was attracted to Zionism by prophecy that is seen through spirit possession. This was almost similar if not identical to the Shona aspect of divination.
Spirit possession confers people with different abilities that include healing by laying of hands, predicting the future and preaching. This reminded Shoko of the n’angas (traditional healers) among the Shona who were there to guide the people and predict their future as well as heal the sick. The aspect of healing is common in the Zionist church after every service. Therefore, the Zionist church was equal to the Shona way of life and this attracted Shoko the most. Andreas Shoko said that the Sotho Zionists used to ask him whether he could find the name Dutch Reformed Church in the Bible (Daneel 1971). All these were so appealing to Shoko and thus he decided to join the ZAFM in South Africa. Furthermore, baptism as a symbol of conversion and rebirth sounded to have striking similarities to Shoko’s understanding of Shona purification rites. Among the Shona anyone believed to be haunted by evil spirits or tought to have mistune or any other spirit was supposed to be cleansed. This wa done through purification ritual which included kugeza munyama (cleansing of misfortune). Kugeza
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munyama was done through washing in flowing water. The realisations of the similarities made Shoko to consider his conversion in the Dutch Reformed Church to be incomplete. It was explained to Shoko by the Sotho preachers that conversation and rebirth could only have their fullest meaning when Jesus Christ was followed into Jordan. According to the stories circulating orally in the ZAFM church, Andreas Shoko received divine guidance through dreams that he should join the ZAFM church in South Africa. The other factor that facilitated the conversion of Shoko to Zionism was the nature of their songs, the beating of drums, and the circle dances of the Zionists. Shoko, according to stories circulating in his church, was a good singer from his infancy and he could beat the drums very well before he converted to the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). Therefore, when he saw the Zionists using drums, he was so attracted since it reminded him of his childhood interests. Shoko, as Muringo narrated, was a good singer of magure music (humming sounds) and this attracted him further to join Zionism that sings in almost the same manner. The character of Zionists mirrored the African cultural outlook particularly in their dances, nature of songs, beating the drums and the regalia of the principal leader. It was this aspect of tapping much from the African way of life that attracted Andreas Shoko to join the Zionists in South Africa.
5.3 The return of Andreas Shoko to Zimbabwe and the Formation of the Zion Apostolic