BARBERTON – Traditional healers are sick and tired of being labelled or called names, such as “Abatsakatsi”, which means sorcerers. They recently united at the local community hall to voice their anger.
This was after the Traditional Healers Organisation (THO) noted that even though the country was celebrating 20 years of democracy, they were still oppressed. Gogo Jubindaba Sibanyoni of THO stated that it was about time for Izinyanga to stand up and fight for their rights.
“This gathering was aimed at reminding abogogo, bomkhulu and Abothokoza of their rights. We need to face reality,” she said. Sibanyoni said the torching of their houses was very common among communities. “We want to be treated with respect and our dignity must be restored.
“When the community discovers such an occurrence, they won’t hesitate to attack us, instead lay blame on us because they always say we empower ourselves through human spirits, which is not true.”
She also addressed the issue of many pastors referring to them as a satanists in their churches. “Let me state this clearly, there’s difference between culture and religion.
“Traditional healers stem from cultural roots, while satanists are associated with religion. People have a wrong perception of Izinyanga, they always associate them with bad things, which is totally wrong.
“Some believe that most traditional healers are illiterate and think we don’t know our rights. I’d like to encourage Abothokoza who are called Abatsakatsi, to take these accusations very seriously and sue them because even in court they cannot prove witchcraft exists as there is no evidence,” she said.
Mpumalanga News also learnt that last Wednesday at 19:00, traditional healers from different provinces picketed outside the national parliament in Cape Town to fight for their rights.
