When the Teachings were lost or forgotten, Zulus and many other Africans believe that recourse could be obtained by appealing directly to those who are on the other side of the Great Unknown particularly those with a stake in the continued well being of their descendants. This is a communication of last resort when all other avenues have been exhausted. The spirit of a goat is sent over to convey the S.O.S. message.

Why a goat? In every language in Africa a goat is called imbuzi. It is in Zulu, perhaps because of its ancient roots, that the meaning of this word has been preserved. Imbuzi means in Zulu “the one who goes to the spiritual realm to enquire on your behalf.”

Western knowledge paradigms have a pyramid shape: at the bottom is real experience but moving up are layers of surrogates that stand for original ideas. At the apex are ideals, or highly refined knowledge. E.g. at the top is an idea called constitutional democracy but later by layer going down we can unravel this idea in terms of judicial institutions, legislative institutions, executive institutions, under which are communities and constituencies right until we come to the level of individuals serving in the various organs of state.