La "Educación Sexual" Centrada en la Persona

Following the official mourning period for Engenas, many of his followers asked Edward to return to the Boyne area and establish his own ZCC with a new Zion City Moria. This was located about 1.6 kilometres northeast of his father’s original Zion City (Hanekom 1975:42). According to Ramogale and Galane (1997:2) it was during this time that the mokhukhu (this is discussed in more depth in section 4.2) came into existence. The mokhukhu is a dance formation for men peculiar to the ZCC. All participants of this well-known male formation are dressed in khaki uniforms, caps and white boots. In Pedi mokhukhu means shack.

According to Ramogale and Galane (1997:2) when Edward’s followers were trying to convince him to become their leader, some of them burned the shacks of a few of Joseph’s supporters while singing a Zulu song, u yasha umkhukhu (a shack is burning). This song originated among migrant workers based in Gauteng who were supporters of Edward. The dancing formation they initiated eventually became popular among ZCC members and in time developed into the mokhukhu. Lukhaimane (1980:101–102) referred to this same event, but did not mention that fire was used to destroy some of the shelters of Joseph’s followers. He (1980:101) did indicate that this ZCC formation “was formed to stamp out any opposition”. Of interest here is that Anderson (2000:173) proposed that this dance formation became known as the mokhukhu because early church members lived in shacks at Edward’s Zion City Moria.

Figure 3: Bishop Edward Lekganyane (Hanekom 1975)

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Members of Edward’s ZCC can be identified by the five-pointed Star of David badge upon which the letters ZCC are engraved. The badge is pinned onto a circular black piece of cloth and again onto a rectangular dark-green piece of cloth. Hanekom (1975:42) mentioned that between these two pieces of cloth there is another smaller blue piece of cloth which is not visible to the eye. This whole badge is fixed to members’ clothing on the left side of the chest.

The ZCC continued to grow under Edward’s leadership. According to Schlosser (1958:197, as quoted in Hanekom 1975:42), there were at least 80 000 registered members in 1954. Edward continued the tradition of polygamy and married his first wife in 1950. Out of this union, three children – two girls and one boy – were born. Hanekom (1975:42–43) noted that although it is not possible to be sure how many wives Edward had, Drum magazine (1971:10) published an article in 1971 indicating he had at least 23 wives and disclosed their names. Verwey (1995:134) mentions the possibility of the same number of wives and indicates that some apparently resided in Soweto and Durban.

In 1963 Edward enrolled in the three-year course for evangelists offered at the Dutch Reformed Church’s Stofberg Theological College located in close proximity to his headquarters. Although he attended classes in his chauffeur-driven black limousine and wore his big diamond ring, he bonded quite easily with other students. He became good friends with a few whom he invited to visit him at his residence in Moria. He apparently told them that he was rather lonely, because in his private life he was generally limited to interaction only with his closest advisors (Anderson 2000:71; Hanekom 1975:43). According to Anderson (1999:291) the major theological difference between Edward and his teachers was related to baptism, which he believed had to be administered by means of threefold immersion in running water. Hanekom (1975:44) mentioned another deviation in that Edward regarded baptism as a sacrament for adults only.

After finishing his evangelism course, Edward tried to place more emphasis on the teachings of the Bible. Some members criticised this approach because they believed it was at the expense of the emphasis on the workings of the Holy Spirit and

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consequently rendered the church less powerful. In general it does appear that Edward relied less on his prophetic status than his father did. Anderson (2000:71) argued that this quality resulted in the ZCC losing most of its Pentecostal characteristics. As a more pragmatic, administrative leader Edward established reputable relations with the apartheid regime by inviting the government in 1965 to the Easter conference at Moria. The then Minister of Bantu Affairs attended the ceremony during which, on an apolitical note, Edward thanked the government for its guidance and indicated strongly that the ZCC was against all who tried to undermine or break the law (Anderson 1999:292; Anderson 2000:71; Hanekom 1975:44).

Edward died of a sudden heart attack in October 1967. The newspaper World (in Anderson 2000:72) described him as “one of the most powerful leaders who have dominated the religious scene in this generation”. Many significant leaders paid tribute to Edward, among others the then Minister of Bantu Affairs, Dr De Wet Nel. Before his death Edward had informed his children that he chose his most senior son Barnabas, the current Bishop of the ZCC, to succeed him and changed his name to Ramarumo (see Mathebula 2002:65). Ramarumo is a name that was often used by Pedi-speakers to refer to General Jan Smuts and can be translated as “father of spears” (Hanekom 1975:45). Several of my research participants, for example Moruti Moya (Personal communication 1995) and Moruti Mampuru (Personal communication 2002) gave me this same translation of the current Bishop’s name and added that his father had given him this name because he knew that his son would face difficult times. Ramarumo was only 13 years old at the time of his father’s death and therefore the ZCC was governed by superintendents until he came of age.

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