Special Report – Glam Dlozis
These days, traditional healers are revamping an age-old vocation into a glamorous one. We take a look at how glam dlozis heed their calling while living their best life
Imagine consulting a sangoma in the comfort of your own home, via Skype, a WhatsApp video call, FaceTime, or even Instagram DM? Better yet, imagine visiting her in her indumba that is not only filled with the smell of impepho (incense) but also imithi (medicine) packaged in jars and bottles. You watch her murmur to the ancestors while she wraps her acrylic-nail manicured hands around the bones she uses as a means of communication and shakes them before throwing them to the ground. Her nails aren’t the only
We live in different generations than our ancestors. I’m sure if my ancestors lived in this generation ngabe baphila nje ngami
thing that fixates your eyes on her, but also her expensive weave resting on her shoulders and lips glistening with gloss. You were assured by your friends that she’s the real deal though, and the beaded chains around her neck, as well as the red and white beads wrapping her arms, put you at ease. While some people might raise their eyebrows in surprise at the thought of consulting a traditional healer wearing killer lashes and glistening makeup, many are warming up to what is called a glam dlozi — a modern-day traditional healer who is as glamorous as she’s spiritually inclined.
There are a number of millennial sangomas who are changing the face or even our perception of this vocation that has been around for as long as our African history has existed. For example, take South Africa’s media personality and rapper, Boity Thulo, who had tongues wagging when she took to social media three years ago announcing that she would be heeding her ancestral calling. In one of her 2016 Instagram posts, she captioned an image of herself wearing traditional ancestral clothing in a rural setting, “They called. I answered. The proudest, most incredible day of my life. A beautiful gift that I will never take for granted. #ThokozaGogo #KgosigadiDabulamanzi…”
Three years later, she hasn’t been let off the hook by doubtful on-lookers continuing to question her. She even started a debate around Christianity and ancestral calling when she tweeted earlier this year, “Not sure who Abraham is, but I’m very certain who my great x 3 parents are.” After an exchange of heated words, she then wrote, “If you’re going to try and demonise me for believing in my ancestors and the journey they have placed me on, you’re wasting your time. And stop trying to send me to get reprimanded by white Jesus who claims the people who birthed my family are demons. Asomblief. Thanks.” Whether you choose to believe Boity or not, she has been vocal about her calling to a point where she even rapped, “Bare wa thwasa mara bona o rata strata wa mmona (They say she’s training to be a sangoma but look, she’s always gallivanting on the streets)”, in her latest single, Bakae — a line that seems to suggest that a sangoma must stay put and not have a life. Boity is a sangoma that puts much glam to her gram.
THE MISCONCEPTIONS
Many South Africans consult sangomas on a regular basis. In fact, an article published by Business Tech in June 2018 said just under 400 000 people are using traditional healers as their primary healthcare providers. But for whatever reason, people do seek the help and guidance from their ancestors through traditional healers. Still, there have been misconceptions that many have had about dlozis — one of them being how they should look. Like many other people, 29-year-old Thembisile Nkosi* from Johannesburg, says she consults with a sangoma to communicate with her ancestors and to cleanse herself from any form of bad spirit when she feels things are not going her way. “Honestly, I grew up in a family who consulted and the traditional healers we went to have always dressed the same — in their white and red attires — and even walked barefoot. I trust plain and older traditional healers more than the glamorous ones because I personally feel like they make it look like a lifestyle rather than a calling,” she says.
Kwenzekile Mngoma, a 30-year-old selfproclaimed glamorous dlozi who has more than 22 000 followers on Instagram and hails from Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, believes that there’s no such thing as a prescribed look for her as a sangoma. “Actually, we live in different generations than our ancestors. I’m sure if my ancestors lived in this generation ngabe baphila nje ngami (they would live like me),” she says.
Former Generations actress and singer, Letoya Makhene, also shares, “From general public perception, people think sangomas should dress in traditional attire or in a certain way. But I dress any way I feel represents me.” Joburg-based Gogo Dineo Ndlanzi, who also boasts more than 40 000 followers on Instagram, as well as more than 4 000 subscribers on Youtube, adds that there’s a common misinterpretation that traditional healers should look scruffy and even demonic.
Furthermore, she says that those expectations stem from how the image of who sangomas are has been distorted in recent times. “With that said, there are a lot of traditional healers who you wouldn’t even recognise as healers because they don’t have to wear beads or anything,” she says. “But there’s a deeper meaning as to why we wear the things we wear and do the things we do, depending on which initiation school one goes to. People must also understand that anyone can buy beads and dress up like a sangoma even though they’re not because we don’t have to produce permits to practise. That’s why I believe in the significance of a homegoing ceremony, where one is sent home after initiation and has their family announce to the community that they have brought home a qualified healer. That’s also one of the ways in which people can tell whether one is an authentic healer.”
CHANGING THE FACE OF UBUNGOMA
A number of young South African celebrities have given us a glimpse into their ancestral calling and the lifestyle they choose on their social media platforms. Their influence has somehow opened up a conversation about how young traditional healers are changing the face of this calling. In her 2016 radio interview with Azania Mosaka
on 702, The Soil vocalist, Buhlebendalo Mda, who also posts images of her ancestral experiences said, “I was born a healer. I was healing way before I went in for initiation. If God or my ancestors instruct me to do something, then I’ll do it.” Mngoma, who also makes use of digital platforms such as FaceTime and Instagram to communicate with and help her clients, says she played a huge role in encouraging young people who also had callings but were afraid to accept or embrace it. “We need to spread the word that being a sangoma is not how it’s portrait as this ‘dirty old woman with snuff’ but it can be a glamorous educated woman too.”
Ndlanzi adds that young traditional healers help interrogate the relevance of this form of practice in this day and age. “Young sangomas are questioning the meaning behind everything done in this calling and how it’s of service to them. If these questions are not asked, things will be deemed irrelevant for the modern times,” Ndlanzi says, “but we need to be careful of our radicalism as young traditional healers that in our attempt to change the face of this calling, we could actually disable it. We need to ask if we’re changing it for the better and innovate around it to keep the practice alive or whether we’re writing it off because we see it as an inconvenience to us.”
Although Ndlanzi says that some ancestors are strict, especially in how you must present yourself, Mngoma says there has never been conflict on how glam she chooses to look and what the ancestors expect of her. “iDlozi eliphila kimi lisebenzisana nami ukuze sijabulisane spiritually. (The spirit that lives in me works hand-in-hand with me so we can both be happy). I must enjoy my calling in order to communicate well with my ancestors,” Mngoma adds, “Yes, I used to love long nails but due to the flame catching my nails whenever I burn incense, I just stick to short gelish nails. When it comes to my hair, I wear wigs but the minute I get to the car I remove it because of the slight headache that occurs after hours of wearing it.”
DIGITALISING UBUNGOMA
With the number of internet users rising to more than four billion in 2019, followed by more than three billion social media users globally, according to a digital marketing website, www.smartinsights. com, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen dlozis use these platforms to share information.
“My intention for using social media has always been to inspire,” Ndlanzi explains, “To me, the word inspiration means to help return people to their spirits, which is what I believe is the core essence of our identity because that is what connects us to the image of the creator. Therefore, I share content on these platforms to return people to the essence of their own truth, awakening and understanding that they’re co-creators in their lives and not held hostage by some being in the sky. To me, it’s been an effective platform because it has given people
access to information. The digital platform has also been a tool that has challenged my thinking and my way of seeing things. I’ve asked myself questions on how certain things are applicable in the 21st century because we’re evolving beings.”
Mngoma agrees that social media has been very effective in not just showing her make-up and brows on fleek, but teaching people about culture. “I believe that as a black society we have turned our backs on our cultures and African identity, and what better way to reach and teach as many people than through these platforms?”
Letoya, who has more than 100 000 followers on Twitter, adds that a lot of her fans, who mainly reach out to her through social media, have truly embraced her and her calling and still call for help and advice.
You might think technology has been taken to the extreme as some people really consult a sangoma through digital platforms. Mngoma once told another publication that her clients are mostly young and busy women who prefer the convenience of digital consultations. She further added that some women preferred to e-mail, WhatsApp or send direct messages on Instagram. And yes, she guaranteed that her accuracy in digital consultations was just as effective as when she met her clients face-to-face. “I have since stopped that route though due to the high volume of clients I deal with daily,” she says.
Letoya, on the other hand, has never agreed with this form of contact and laments that technology is trying to take away the true essence of this practice.
LIFESTYLE VS TRUE CALLING
Who can forget entertainer, Scoop Makhatini’s tweet earlier this year that read, “All of a sudden Tom, D*ck and Thandi is having a calling…I’m just gonna relax and watch the liars play themselves out. The ancestral lashing will be unavoidable… Yonke into bafuna ukuyendza ‘fashion’ (they want to make everything trend).”
While this brought various social media debates to the fore, one can’t help but wonder if there was any truth to Scoop Makhathini’s question. “I believe some are using this calling for fame and to add glamour to it,” Letoya adds. “You need to be in line with your calling and truly believe. At first, a lot of my fans didn’t understand what I was all about until I spoke about it frequently on various media platforms.”
Mngoma adds that her journey into being a sangoma was predestined from an early age as she could interpret dreams and even sleep-walk. “I know that there are people who judge me for my looks and lifestyle and think I might be joking, but this spirit of healing that lives within me amazes me too.”
This glam dlozi frowns upon the fact that in this day and age, many people reduce this calling to a bogus business opportunity at the expense of people who really need help. “Your ancestors will guide you through dreams and signs if you’re truly called. No glam dlozi will initiate you or should draw you in because of how they look. A true calling comes from within and your ancestors will lead you to the right person to help you in your journey.”
* Not her real name