WATCH: ‘Sangomas’ eat a dead cow raw

A video of izangoma eating raw cow meat has left social media users all over the world wondering what the cause of this behaviour could be.

In the video that has already been viewed by more than 7 million people, a group of women and a man can be seen gathered around a slaughtered cow that is on the ground as they try to rip off small pieces of raw meat with their teeth and eat it. This while others look on and take videos.

It was unclear where and when the video was taken, though it was shared on social media on Sunday.

Johannesburg-based traditional healer Chief Kunto told The Citizen that if the video was not an acting segment, then the izangoma were probably possessed by a spirit that had led them to eat raw cow meat.

He said: “It’s possible that those people were possessed by different spirits – it could be their ancestors, or any other spirit – but it was definitely not them doing that. If someone asks them after eating the meat why they were doing it, they will not be able to answer. They were not in their right mind when they did that. When people are possessed by different spirits, they do all sorts of things – some speak in tongues and some run around.”

President of the SADC Unified Ancestors Tradition Association Dr Hlati said that the video was shocking. He said he could not explain what was going on in it, but emphasised that it had nothing to do with ubusangoma.

He said: “I graduated in 1982 and I have more than 35 years of experience. I have never seen anything like this. It is so sad that these people are doing this. It is very strange to our tradition. This has nothing to do with us because when someone is graduating to become a sangoma we don’t use cows, we only use goats. The person who is graduating to become a sangoma drinks a little bit of blood from the goat and that’s it. The meat that is eaten there will be cooked and given to the people who are in attendance – that’s it.”

Watch the video below shared by Black Rhino Lwendo on Twitter:

(Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde)

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