Video: Help us, there is no muti for hunger, healers plead with govt

The muti industry in Johannesburg, consisting of two large downtown marketplaces, is calling on government to help forge a place for it in the new Covid-19 reality.

Nearly a century of hard-earned establishment and cultural significance is on the brink of being erased forever, it claims.

More and more inyangas, sangomas and craftsmen and women are at risk of closing up shop for good as the threat of the deadly virus and the restrictions of the lockdown continue to wreak havoc on the lives of already disadvantaged communities.

From the onset of the hard lockdown in March, which sent families packing to their home provinces, to the recent relaxation of restrictions under level 3 lockdown, dwellers and sellers at these markets are caught between a rock and a hard place.

Some risk their lives by continuing to sell under harsher conditions, just to put food on the table, while others have had to wait out the storm, fating themselves to certain hunger while the country slowly reopens for business and travel.

The oldest muti market in Johannesburg, and one of the oldest in the country, is affectionately known as Kwa Mai Mai.

Kwa Mai Mai Market in Johannesburg, 7 July 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

Upon entering the closed community, one is greeted with a cornucopia of indigenous plants, herbs and medicines, concocted and prepared in the ancient traditions of the Zulu, Ndelebele, Swati, Xhosa, Venda and Tsonga tribes.

This one square kilometre of facebrick and cobblestone is home to several dozen families and over 200 inyangas, sangomas, crafters, jewellers and tailors, who have known a certain way of life for generations.

But poverty has its deadly grip upon families left destitute by the lockdown and scarcity is now the new normal for even its most senior residents.

The leadership council’s secretary, Mbuyiseni Mpungose, says, despite a spike in the sale of a herb known as umhlonyane (African wormwood) – a known flu remedy which has been used by those treating Covid-19 symptoms from home – sales have become so scant that families are desperate for food donations and other forms of help.

“We have been hungry ever since this lockdown was imposed,” he said. “The situation is bad. Food parcels have only been delivered here once and we distributed them evenly.

“The relief was short-lived because the amount of food would only last a week for others who have around five family members to feed.

“People who have it better around here are the ones who have jobs. Those without jobs, I won’t lie, life is not good at all.

“Even for those running business here, those businesses are suffering because of the lockdown. People don’t come in their number as usual.”

Kwa Mai Mai Market in Johannesburg, 7 July 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

The African wormwood plant has been used for centuries, in conjunction with other leaves and roots, to treat symptoms such as inflammation, congestion and breathing difficulties.

Herbalists in Kwa Mai Mai and at the Faraday Market have seen an uptick in the sale of this concoction, but are asking government to help them recover from the loss of income – as it has assisted other industries.

Not least because many people who do not have adequate access to primary healthcare or testing perceive the goods sold at these markets to be the most affordable way to self-treat as hospitals and clinics continue to fill up.

Traditional healer Thulani Mhlongo said while these medicines are not a replacement for Western treatment methods, many people still relied on them, and sales generated much-needed income for healers.

“Our medicines do help with the flu and congestion … and now some of the symptoms of Covid-19 are like a really severe flu.

“We grew up using umhlonyane for similar illnesses and we know that it helps a lot with congestion and breathing problems,” he said.

Both markets appear to have been abandoned by cleaning services, so litter and debris have piled up over the course of the lockdown.

Ixhama shop at Kwa Mai Mai Market in Johannesburg, 7 July 2020. Picture: Nigel Sibanda

The communities are also asking government to resume proper cleaning services and a full sanitisation of their stalls, in order for them and their customers to feel safe conducting business.

“Nobody has come here to give us masks,” said Mpungose of Kwa Mai Mai. “Those here who are in the business of sewing eventually learned how to make masks to sell to us. So we buy it internally.

“The only free things we have had was the cleaning and sanitisation, which was done once in April, as well as the food parcels.

“What we are most afraid of is how fast this disease is spreading. We are waiting to hear of our first confirmed case.

“We are so close together and our houses are so small. There is no way to protect ourselves.”

Plants used to treat flu-like symptoms and congestion and which people have been using to fight Covid-19:

Isibharha:

• Botanical name: Bersama tysoniana Oliv. In the Melianthaceae family.
• It is commonly known as white ash in English and witessenhout in Afrikaans.

Isiphephetho:

• Botanical name: Siphonochilus aethiopicus in the Zingiberaceae family
• It is known as Natal ginger or wild ginger in common English and wildegemmer in Afrikaans.

Umhlonyane:

• Botanical name: Artemisia afra Jacq. ex Willd in the Asteraceae family.
• It is known as wild wormwood or African wormwood in common English and wilde-als in Afrikaans.

A community living in fear of virus

Kwa Mai Mai was originally built by the apartheid government as stables in the 1940s.

As cars became more popular, the facility was abandoned and migrants from other provinces, many of whom worked there, began to negotiate for occupation of the premises.

And so it was transformed into a makeshift hostel for migrant workers.

By 1994, when it was taken over by the Southern Metropolitan Local Council, it had blossomed into the largest marketplace in Johannesburg selling traditional medicines and related products to hundreds of daily visitors.

The community operates like a homestead, with an elected leader, called an induna, and his council, whose tasks include keeping the community safe, maintaining order and speaking on behalf of its people.

One does not simply walk or drive into this sacred marketplace uninvited and without clear intentions. Outsiders are noticed immediately and questioned.

This is one of the reasons many who live there are seldom affected by the high crime rate in Jeppestown, once the murder capital of the country, and situated near one of the most dangerous men’s hostels in SA.

With the changes and dangers posed by Covid-19, this way of life is under threat and so are the livelihoods of its more than 200 households.

Another market threatened by the disease is the Faraday Market, about 5km from Kwa Mai Mai.

Fear of permanent loss of income and death has people paralysed, unsure how to proceed safely, with little support from government.

– simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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