More traditional healers add their voice of dissent to health ministry proposals
PRETORIA: More traditional healers have joined the fight to oppose regulations proposed by Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi.
The National Traditional Healers Union, which has a membership of at least 5 000 sangomas, held a meeting in Attridgeville community park to register its unhappiness about the proposals to regulate the practice.
The proposals are contained in a Government Gazette published on November 3, but some traditional healers claimed to have only learned about them a few days ago.
The draft regulations prescribed the minimum age for practising as a sangoma as 18 years.
Anyone wishing to be a diviner, herbalist or traditional birth attendant must undergo training at an accredited institution with a traditional tutor, according to the proposals. The department intends to prescribe the duration of sangoma training to at least a year.
Anyone practising as a sangoma will be required to apply to the Interim Traditional Healers Council to be recognised. The application will be accompanied by a yet to be determined fee.
The 20-member council is made up of members from all nine provinces and has representatives of stakeholder bodies, including the Health Professions Council and the SA Pharmaceutical Council.
At the meeting, traditional healers aired their anger and frustration regarding the proposed regulations and accused Motsoaledi of wanting to impose western tradition into their practice. They threatened to march to the health department if their objections to the proposals fell on deaf ears.
Luwiza Monyaba, who has been a sangoma since 1992, said she heard of the proposed regulations for the first time at the meeting. Her gripe was that government wanted to impose western tradition on them.
Monyaba would like to be part of the planned march, but said her ancestors would decide her participation.
Two weeks ago, traditional healers in Mamelodi voiced their concerns about the draft regulations, complaining about their apparent “restrictive” nature.
Zandi Nkosi said angry sangomas would initiate a campaign to stop the regulations, under #VukaMngomaCampaign.
Nkosi said traditional healers would march to the national health offices on Thursday. “Traditional healing is not a career and thus cannot be governed by minimum qualifications that have nothing to do with our ancestral calling,” she said.
The healers accused Motsoaledi of having failed to consult with them before the publication of the regulations.
They said lack of sufficient prior consultation was a blatant disregard for the opinions of the majority in favour of instructions from an elite minority.
In #VukaMngomaCampaign, the sangomas are demanding that the department and council desisted with immediate effect from intimidating traditional healers and the community.
National Traditional Healers Union general secretary, Maggy Lesufi, said sangomas were angry with the minister.
Lesufi said Motsoaledi undermined their practice by wanting to infuse the western tradition in their healing practice. She said the union would fully support the march, but intended organising its own protest early in the new year.
“We will submit our objections to the proposed regulations to Motsoaledi’s office and embark on another march to register our dissatisfaction in January,” she added.