Africans turn on the charm,and a bit of voodoo

If Sebenzile Nsukwinis bones are anything to go by,the World Cup is going to pass off without a hitch and hosts South Africa...

If Sebenzile Nsukwinis bones are anything to go by,the World Cup is going to pass off without a hitch and hosts South Africa are destined for great things. Eish,it is looking very good for South Africa, the 33-year-old Zulu witch-doctor said after casting her eyes over a seemingly random scattering of animal bones and sea shells during a seance in downtown Johannesburg.

Look,the trouble is far,far away. No bombs, she added,pointing to a polished and highly decorated knuckle-bone lying apart from the mass of trinkets strewn across the concrete floor in the corner of a dingy bus station.

A newspaper report of an 80 percent chance of a terrorist attack during the June 11-July 11 event suggests her confidence is not universally shared. But in Africa,where mysticism and magic play a part in many peoples lives,pronouncements from a sangoma such as Nsukwini can carry as much weight as those from governments,especially when it comes to the murky world of security agencies.

In sport,too,sangomas have been a regular but unofficial fixture on the African team sheet,using their ability to commune with the dead to determine a players fortunes and whether a dose of sympathetic magic and traditional muti potion is in order.

Brazil for Cup

Predicting the outcome of a World Cup is beyond a sangomas normal remit,although Nkuswini was confident enough to say South Africa would be strong despite being a lowly 83rd in the FIFA rankings. There was more certainty from 78-year-old Nigerian soothsayer John Adatiri,who was able to make a precise call on the outcome despite admitting it was the first time he had analysed a soccer tournament in his 50 years as a mystic. After a brief but intense stare into a two-sided mirror pulled from an old wash bag in his zinc-roofed hut in Lagos,Adatiri declared: Nigeria go play quarter final. Brazil go win.

In Ivory Coast,another West African nation with big World Cup hopes,fans have been going to juju priests and a charmed grove near the capital to conjure up some magic on the pitch.

Bloody magic

South Africas sangomas have also done their bit,slaughtering a cow at the new 95,000-seater Soccer City stadium near Johannesburg to bless the pitch and give national side Bafana Bafana (The Boys) a spiritual boost. However,insiders say traditional beliefs might be on the wane at top domestic clubs due to an influx of non-African coaches who prefer to get their team spirit from the training manual rather than the afterlife.