Kitawala

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Kitawala. A widespread movement in Central Africa, especially 1908–30, based originally on contacts in S. Africa with Jehovah's Witnesses, then known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (hence ki-tawala, an Africanization of ‘tower’). Elliot Kamwana Chirwa (1872–1956) brought the teachings to his native Malawi in 1908. His strong millenarian and anti-colonial overtones soon led to his arrest and deportation. His followers took the movement to Zambia, where it was especially strong in the 1920s. The movement spread also into Zaïre and southern Tanzania.

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