Sangoma sees challenging 2017
Ancestors ‘angered’ by politicians
THE ancestors are displeased with government and warned that more natural disasters were on the way if South Africans did not do more for the environment.
After igniting some impepho (incense used to facilitate communication with one’s ancestors), Pietermaritzburg sangoma Nomagugu Ngobese, 60, relayed how South Africans would fare in the new year.
The former principal said the ancestors addressed many of the problems facing South Africa, including #FeesMustFall and the drought.
“Students are making South Africa ungovernable. There is no such thing as free education,” she said. “Students must be taught the reality of things. Nothing is free.”
She said the economy was going to drop and students must think twice about the campaign and factor in the consequences of their actions. There was too much protesting and not enough learning, she warned.
Ngobese said the ancestors were calling for people to go back to their roots to end the drought. “I am witness to the good that brings,” she said.
“I have been to the mountains with the virgins. There we fasted and prayed to the Goddess of Rain and then received rain. People don’t respect the world they live in and now nature is fighting back. Science has also been destroying nature with chemicals, and when they have conferences to discuss the problem of global warming, they don’t want to include us (spiritual healers).
“For centuries there were no natural disasters. If we do not take care of the environment now, people will die, not in the hundreds, but thousands.”
She said the ancestors stressed that politicians had lost their way and were more concerned about money than working for the people.
“They (the ancestors) are also angered at the fact that today we forget those who fought for our freedom. Politicians pick and choose who they want to reward. South Africans need to do more to recognise those who have fought in the struggle.”
Ngobese says the government should invest more in educating children and getting more skilled teachers, but believes this year’s national matric pass rate will not be any worse than last year’s. The results are expected next week.
She said one problem with educating the youth was smartphones, which had a negative impact on their reading and spelling.
“The matric pass rate for 2015 was a disgrace,” she said.
Unfortunately, she could not see the rand improving in 2017, but said the solution to that lay in agriculture, and called for people to pray for rain and fertile soil.
Negligence had angered the ancestors, and one contributing factor had been the erection of houses on sacred land, she said.
But there was some good news – according to Ngobese, the ancestors said South Africa’s unemployment rate would improve in 2017 if politicians did justice to their job and brought monopolies to an end.
Also, the Proteas would keep up their winning ways and bring Sri Lanka to their knees in the second Test in Cape Town starting on Monday.
HUMOUR, hard work and toughness are the traits of South Africans in hard times. They helped us through 2016. Water restrictions, President Jacob Zuma’s ill-advised pandering to the Gupta family, racist online posts, the FeesMustFall campaigns and the attempts by business, labour and government, led by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, to avoid a ratings downgrade of the economy.
Over the holiday period we have been able to take a breather and spend time with friends and family. Happily, many families can take pride in the achievements of this year’s matrics.
But the signs are already there that 2017 is going to be challenging and we will need those traits of humour, hard work and mental toughness to see us through.
The ANC, divided between the the pro- and anti-Zuma factions, will turn inwards, and the paralysis evident in the ruling party and government will continue.
One positive should be an improvement in the drought situation, with experts predicting more rain and fuller dams. This will be good for agriculture, leading to more food and jobs.
Which brings us to the plight of the ordinary person and how they will cope when in real terms incomes are declining. The first challenge is next week’s increase of 51 cents a litre for fuel and more than 40 cents for diesel. The consumer will land up paying for the additional input costs of manufacturers and farmers.
Neil Roets, CEO of Debt Rescue, said with food inflation running at 11% and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) at 6.6%, there was no relief in sight for consumers.
Despite half the consumers being three months behind in their payments, people have not cut back on spending. Total consumer debt is almost R1.6-trillion and according to a recent World Bank index, this country is one of the most indebted. To survive 2017, people will have to make more effort to budget for expenses such as school fees and paying credit card debt.