Traditional healers of Southern Africa

Throughout southern Africa, among the Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Venda and other peoples, traditional healers have played a major role for centuries. They are consulted in illness, but also in misfortune, conflict and at important moments in life.

In colonial times and under apartheid, healers were distrusted and opposed. The Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957, for instance, banned “practising witchcraft” and divination. Yet people kept going to healers, often alongside a visit to a clinic.

After apartheid South Africa chose recognition. In 2007 parliament passed the Traditional Health Practitioners Act. The law recognises diviners and herbalists, among others, as traditional health practitioners and sets up a council that regulates registration, training and conduct.

In the thinking of many peoples of southern Africa, the ancestors play a central role. Among the Zulu they are called amadlozi. They watch over their descendants, but can also withdraw their protection if they are forgotten or offended. Illness and misfortune can be a sign of that.

There is also fear of ill intent from others, through envy or witchcraft. A healer therefore looks for the cause behind the illness: is it an ordinary ailment, a message from the ancestors, or the work of someone else?

The word muthi (umuthi in Zulu) means medicine. It can be a herbal remedy, but also a remedy with a protective or ritual effect.

There are different kinds of healers. The sangoma is a diviner and healer called by the ancestors. The inyanga is above all an expert in herbs and remedies. The umthandazi is a faith healer who often works within the African Christian churches.

One does not simply become a sangoma. It often begins with a calling: a persistent illness or dreams seen as a sign from the ancestors. Then follows an apprenticeship, ukuthwasa, with an experienced sangoma, which can last months to years and ends with a ceremony.

In searching for causes, many sangomas use divination, for example by throwing and reading bones, shells and other objects.

The knowledge is oral. Important descriptions from outside are ethnographic studies, such as the anthropologist Harriet Ngubane’s 1977 work on Zulu medicine.

An important modern document is the Traditional Health Practitioners Act of 2007, which gives traditional healers an official place in South African healthcare.

Well-known healers were sometimes public figures too. Some are the subject of debate, which shows how sensitive the question is of who may speak for a tradition.

Traditional healers are still important in southern Africa, in cities and in the countryside. Many people go both to a healer and to a clinic.

In the fight against HIV and AIDS, health workers sought cooperation with healers, to refer patients in time and support them in their treatment.

Markets such as the muthi market at Warwick Junction in Durban show how large the trade in plant remedies is. That trade also puts wild plants under pressure.

The healers’ pharmacy is large. African wormwood (Artemisia afra), umhlonyane in Zulu, is used for coughs, colds and fever. Cancer bush (Sutherlandia) is used as a tonic.

The corm of the African potato (Hypoxis) is widely traded. The root of umckaloabo (Pelargonium sidoides) was used by the Zulu and Sotho for coughs and stomach complaints. In Europe it has become a well-known remedy for respiratory complaints.

Some plants are so sought after that they are endangered, such as the pepper-bark tree (Warburgia salutaris), whose pungent bark is used for colds.

Sangomas work within a spiritual tradition in which calling and ancestors are central. It is not a spectacle for tourists.

Be careful with muthi. Remedies can be strong or poisonous, and quality varies. Tell your doctor what you use, especially if you also take other medicines.