Here is my translation of the Swahili article about it on Wikipedia:
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An msukule is a person who a number of people believe has died by sorcery. In this community, it is often heard that someone has died and been buried, but actually it is said that this person has not died completely, but instead has been transported by supernatural means to another place, and that another person is forcing them to work at various tasks, especially very hard, tiring work.
Explanation of this belief
Certainly it is difficult to take an able-bodied and aware person and force them to do whatever you want. Of course, for someone who agrees with you, and has no objections from friends, family, or relatives about what you want to do, there is no difficulty. However, it is different with witch-doctors. They routinely take the souls of people to the spirit world and force their bodies to do grueling work like farming, manufacturing, and tending livestock.
The witch-doctors or sorcerers always take people who are healthy in mind and body and put their mind and soul to abide in the spirit realm.
Therefore, the victim's remains alive both on the earth in body and in the spirit realm as mind and soul. This why if such a person is tending a store, he may call customers to come and buy, but for those with normal eyes, they usually can't see him. It is only those whose spiritual eyes are open or have been opened that can see what is going on.
Basically, in the spirit world, no one has a body. Anyone who has a life-threatening medical condition is also in the spirit realm, indeed this is the origin of it. Unless they go to heaven or become a ghost, they stay in the spirit world. Therefore, if someone dies with their soul and body intact, they either go to heaven or become a ghost, according to their deeds while they were alive.
Another thing: no one has the right to take anyone's life except God himself decides to or allows another to do so. That person would be someone in great distress because their soul had been removed. Witch-doctors do not normally kill people in order to make them zombies; they take healthy people and force their souls to reside in the spirit world.
That is why it is impossible for a person to be in the spirit world while their soul and body are together. Witch-doctors use magical means to extract the soul and prevent it from returning to the body.
This is why the body of a person restrained in such a manner retains all of its physical abilities and strength. The vital force always pulls it to return from the spirit world and keeps it locked in the body.
You will see that someone who has died in the past will appear again, even if all the prayers were said for him, and whatever medical treatment was done for him, he will return because the magic that was binding his soul to the spirit world has gone and so he returns the realm of the living.
Someone who has been turned into a zombie cannot be seen by normal eyes. Only those properly educated, such as servants of God, seers, and prophets, can see zombies.
Evaluation
These explanations have no basis in science. However this belief continues to be found among many Africans, even Muslims and Christians, though some sects see belief in zombies as a form of paganism.
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It's been 14 years since I spoke Swahili daily, so I'm sure I made some mistakes. On a related note, the word "zombie" comes from a Kikongo (another African language) word "nzumbi". It's probably related to the word nzambi which means god.
I translated mchawi as witch-doctor since this is a term English-speakers are familiar with. It originally referred to charlatans in England who claimed to cure diseases brought on by the devil.
I first learned about msukule as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. Here is the story:
I was hanging out at a bar and a friend said I looked really tired. He then speculated that I had been turned into an msukule. This led to asking him what an msukule was.
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