Traditional healer conned me, claims aspirant sangoma
A TRAINEE sangoma – claiming to be haunted by evil spirits – has turned to the Port Elizabeth Small Claims Court in a desperate bid to recoup R25 000 she says she paid to a traditional healer who allegedly tried to lure her into witchcraft instead.
Gcobisa Rasmeni, 36, alleges Fedelis Mbuyazwe, known as Dlamini, led her to a river in Cradock to be initiated (ukuthwasa) to become a fully fledged sangoma.
She claims she was handed a black cat and told to sacrifice it as part of the rituals she was required to perform.
This caused her to back out at the last minute.
“He said: ‘You deserve this because you talk too much’. When I opened the blanket, there was a black cat. I was shocked. I almost died. I was not expecting a cat,” Rasmeni said.
When she asked Dlamini what she should do with the cat, he allegedly told her it would give her courage.
“He said if I wanted to successfully fight my enemies, I had to accept the cat and sacrifice it,” she said.
“I approached him in the first place because I was sick and needed healing.
“I would not have approached him if I had known he wanted to initiate me into witchcraft.”
Dlamini said his work was above board and accused Rasmeni of tarnishing his name.
“It’s not true that I bewitched her or her family. In fact it’s her neighbour who bewitched her.
“I have witnesses to prove this. I am no fake.
“What she is doing will place the life of her husband in trouble,” he said.
After the fall-out, Rasmeni claimed, she had been threatened with the death of her two-year-old daughter, who is now sickly, and that her husband’s car would be involved in an accident.
She and her family have since gone into hiding and no longer reside at their Zono Street home, in Zwide, where they claim to hear strange noises and things walking on the rooftop. “I am very scared. I hear voices. [Dlamini] is following me every day,” she said.
“Funny things happen around me. Sometimes money vanishes out of my hand. “He does not want to stop. “Dlamini’s voice threatens to hurt persons who are trying to cure me.”
Dr Nokuzola Mndende, director of the Icamagu Institute, made a distinction between the ritual of ukuthwasa and ukuthwala.
Ukuthwasa, she said, was more of a response to a call by the ancestors.
It involves family – it is more spiritual in nature, unlike ukuthwala where an individual leaves his community to get medicine to enable him to get rich.
“A cat does not feature anywhere in ukuthwasa initiation.
“Rasmeni will never be right until she goes and sees a herbalist who can cleanse her.
“This man must be investigated,” Mndende said.
Ukuthwasa is the period of training that one undergoes in order to become a sangoma and the ritual is normally done under the watchful eye of an experienced sangoma.
Rasmeni said that since the age of 13 she had known she had an ancestral calling and longed to train as a sangoma.
However, she put this on ice due to financial constraints.
But last month, Rasmeni took the step.
She and her husband, Mcebisi, approached Absa Bank and secured a R25 000 loan through a credit card facility in a desperate bid to pay Dlamini for his services.
“I decided to speak out because I want to warn people not to be gullible.
“They must be very careful when it comes to those who train them,” she said, adding that she wanted a refund.
Last week, she took the first step to getting her money back.
Accompanied by police, she went to a house in Soweto-on-Sea to deliver a letter of demand from the Small Claims Court.
The letter read: “The plaintiff is claiming she paid the money to you to heal her since the defendant said he is a traditional healer.
“She demands that you pay back her money. Up to date, she has not received her money.
“Pay the money within 14 days otherwise further action will be taken against you.”
Dlamini said: “Yes I did train her. What is the money for?
“I have no knowledge of this money. I don’t have such an amount now. Am I allowed to have a lawyer?”
Traditional Healers’ Association co-ordinator Luyanda Matiwane advised Rasmeni to contact his association.
This, he said, would help the association to verify whether Dlamini was affiliated to them. “The victim must contact us. “We will look into the file and if this person belongs to us, we will then follow it up with him concerning the allegations,” Matiwane said.