Mai Chaza's Guta re Jehova (city of God): gender, healing and urban identity in an African independent church

Abstract

This article provides a historical analysis of a unique religious healing community that successfully attracted a strong following for a brief period in the mid‐1950s in and around Salisbury, Rhodesia. The leader of the movement, Mai Chaza, became well‐known as a healer and remains a popular personality in the memories of older persons who participated in, or knew of, her Guta re Jehova (City of God), an alternative community established outside Salisbury from 1954–1957. Based on interviews and archival sources, this article examines social transformations in an African urban community and the relationship of these changes to Mai Chaza's popularity and her appeal to followers. The conventional historical treatment of African Independent Churches is reassessed, suggesting that churches such as Mai Chaza's Guta re Jehova should be analysed as specific groups within larger urban communities, rather than focusing narrowly on the symbolic innovations within the movement itself. The ability of a charismatic female healer to provide an alternative community for specific groups of women and men is examined, with the community serving both as a critique and as a reflection of the prevailing gender relations in urban and rural communities.