BOOK REVIEWSRiddell takes the position that, particularly with the advent of a newpolitical dispensation in Zimbabwe, the need for solutions to the problemsof Black rural and urban poverty and unemployment, and of inequality inthe distribution of assets and income, takes on added urgency. And sincethese problems are a result of policy biases contained in past strategiesinteracting with the structural processes summarized above, the solutions'require ... a very different alternative from the present approach'.The Basic Needs Approach to DevelopmentRiddell proposes that what is needed is a re-orientation of developmentphilosophy and policy so that the satisfaction of the basic needs of 'thepoorest sectors of the population' occupies a central position. Basic needsare defined as consisting of three elements: adequate private consumption,access to social services, and mass participatory democracy.Unless adequately balanced with accurate portrayal, coherent thinkingand clear expression, brevity in socio-economic discussion, particularly ofpolicy issues, always carries the grave danger on the part of the presenterof misrepresentation of ideas Š and of misinterpretation on the part of therecipients. I fear that this could be the result of the way that the BasicNeeds Approach has been introduce'd to the context of Zimbabwe.In so far as addresses the question of incorporating considerationsof poverty, deprivation and distribution into the public policy decision matrix,the Basic Needs Approach says nothing shatteringly novel to the study ofsocial problems. But in so far as it simply focuses on a (hopefully non-ephemeral) shift in emphasis in the thinking of world professional analystsand agencies about the purposes (and only secondarily strategies) of growthand development, the Basic Needs Approach only gives a new label to anuniversally important issue: humanity must struggle to alleviate povertyand its consequences.Riddell's discussion of this shift is, I think, too brief. It also appearsrather, haphazardly and hurriedly assembled. Summarizing the Basic NeedsApproach and juxtaposing that summary with comments on general macro-economic sectoral policy options, urbanization and industrialization, the roleof foreign capital, technology and know-how, Research and Development,participatory democracy and self-reliance, the problem of the influence ofEast - West geopolitics on the evolution of strategic development options, etc.,and presenting all this in a 13-page section, results in the likelihood thatthe meaning and implication of the Basic Needs Approach itself will be lost.Superficiality becomes almost inevitable.Riddell raises many important and relevant issues in this pamphlet.Those issues are not new to this country and economy. That lack of noveltydoes not make them any less valid, or urgent. His presentation of theseissues leaves much to be desired, for example, detail, rigour and, for otheranalysts theoretical explicitness. The over-riding point, in my view, however,is that the issues are being raised. The country can only benefit from morethorough efforts.University of Rhodesia M_ KADHANITraditional Healers and the Shooa Patient By G. Chavunduka. Gweto,Mambo Press, Zsmbeziana No. 3, 1976, 139pp., ZR$5,90.BOOK REVIEWS 263This study was part of Professor Chavunduka's doctoral research and wasconducted mainly on a group of Shona patients in Highfield township inSalisbury, Rhodesia over the years 1968-72. With detailed statistics, casestudies and numerous quotations, Chavunduka examines the process involvedin defining the causes of illnesses, the decision-making process in thechoice of therapy and the organization of traditional medical practice.In the course of his analysis, he emphasizes that traditional healingis a service that exists for preserving health in its own way and that itshealing is not exclusive to those with the most amount of money. Chavundukadiscovered that the rural Shona patient first seeks the traditional healer'streatment and that of the professional physican last. The urban patient,however, seeks the services of a professional physician first and then thatof the traditional healer, if no cure has been effected. As a general rule,however, most patients seek the services of the traditional healers whenscientific medicine proves ineffective. More than 53 per cent of the urbanpatients in Chavunduka's series left the professional practitioner and resortedto the traditional healers when scientific medicine failed to produce expectedresults.The study shows as well how ties of kinship are particularly broughtto the fore in times of illness; money is made available to a kinsman whois faced with an illness but lacks money. The basic concept of extendedrelationship with its concomitant factors of sharing and helping one anotheris well brought out in this study. The concept of collective responsibility,so inherent in Shona society, is thus clearly demonstrated. The ancestralspirits may punish a whole group or some of the relatives with an illnessor misfortune, if one of their members upsets them. An illness, therefore,concerns not only an individual but the whole family group.Chavunduka observes in his study that there is a sense in which thetraditional healer can be said to outmanoeuvre the professional physicianwhose preoccupation is largely the physical cure of his patient. The tradi-tional healer is interested in the cure of the whole man. The professionalphysician asks the patient to tell him where the pain is and then he diag-noses. The traditional healer identifies himself with his patient far morethan that. He is like the priest who identifies himself with his client's diffi-culties and social problems. He heals both the body and mind of the client.Conditions considered to have a primarily supernatural cause are taken tohim because the professional physician has no means of coping with them.Illnesses of 'African' origin that are caused by witches are believed to bebetter treated by traditional healers, while professional doctors are believedto deal far better with diseases caused by germs. However, it seems that itis difficult for patients to tell whether their ailments were 'African' or'European' in origin.The traditional healer also outmanoeuvres his professional counterpartin that he is believed to provide his clients with protective medicines thatward off any harmful magic or witchcraft. On the other hand, the reputationof the traditional healer is not as high as it used to be owing to the influenceof Western education, Christianity and the efficacy of scientific medicine.Missionaries discouraged traditional healing because they thought that itencouraged superstition, witchcraft and ancestral worship.Traditional healers sensing the threat to the existence of their professionhave reacted by forming their own medical associations such as The True264 BOOK REVIEWSAfrican Ngangas Herbalists Association of Africa. These associations issuetheir own medical certificates and diplomas and badges. All this is designedto protect themselves against extinction and to retain public confidence.Chavunduka also shows how through the cash economy, traditional healingis being transformed form a healing service into a profit-making enterprise.Chavunduka's book is generally interesting and represents, in a veryschematic way, a modest beginning in an important and fascinating field ofstudy. It goes beyond the typical descriptive method of some anthropologists.We can conclude from this study that the traditional healer is still holdingsway and that his services often meet felt needs, and that he has a bigrole to play in the treatment of millions of patients in Rhodesia or perhapsthroughout Black Africa.It is, however, necessary to enter a word of caution. The analysispresented in the book is mainly based upon research in one township, High-field, which is in no sense representative of the whole of Rhodesia. Howfar it is possible to draw generalized conclusions from this analysis is,therefore, a moot point. Also, the book is, unfortunately, padded out withnumerous and long quotations from text books which could have beenreduced to a minimum and only referred to in a paraphrased manner.University of Rhodesia J. C. KUMBIRAIA Shona Urban Court By G. Chavunduka. Gwelo, Mambo Press, OccasionalPaper, Socio-Economic Series No. 14, 1979, 70pp., ZR$2,25.In this brief survey Professor Chavunduka sets out to trace the history,function, the proceedings and the type of cases brought before the MakoniCourt in St Mary's Township near Salisbury. The Court is the traditionaldare, though modified, in an urban setting. It was instituted at the requestof Mr Makoni and the residents of St Mary's Township. It was initiallyestablished on a local basis in 1962 but soon attracted litigants from all overSalisbury's townships.The court primarily solves social problems that, the residents consider,the District Commissioners cannot satisfactorily arbitrate; such cases includedisputes between husbands and wives, disputes between neighbours, betweenboys and their girl friends, and adultery. Difficult cases are referred to theD.C.; these include divorce, and disputes over custody of children. Someother cases are referred to the chief as they demand a ritual settlement;incest is one of such cases.The author observed a number of innovations at this court such asthe taking of the oath to God, and the keeping of records of court proceed-ings. A most peculiar innovation is that a man who gives any woman *o*a*money in return for sexual favours is guilty of promoting prostitution.If the reader is looking for a systematic analysis of this research,he will be disappointed. There is an absence of a coherent thematic develop-ment. The case material itself is hastily treated and the book is reduced toa superficial description of a variety of themes not directly related to thecourt or the research. Digressions occupy almost 70 per cent of the text. Forexample, in Chapter-2 the author deals at great length with witchcraft andsocial functions, bringing in irrelevant quotations that have nothing to do