‘TRADITIONAL healers do not use human body parts to make muthi,’
This was the emphatic statement by traditional healers at a community meeting in eShowe on Thursday.
Headed by the uMhlathuze Municipality in a joint venture with uMlalazi Traditional Healers Forum, Child Care and Doctors Without Borders, the community engagement was to dispel the myths about people with albinism.
‘Traditional healers don’t harm, but save lives. We don’t want to be associated with such acts. We want to spread a strong message that we are fighting these barbaric actions because they are tainting our image as healers,’ said uMlalazi Traditional Healers Forum Chairperson Makhosi Zandile Ngema.
uMlalazi Mayor Thelumoya Zulu said communities should work together to identify those who break the law and kill people.
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‘These are not healers, but killers. They can’t heal and turn around and kill people. We invite all other healers to join us in this fight. People with albinism are people with families, and they should be treated as such. Because they look different doesn’t mean their body parts have any powers,’ he said.
Attacks on people living with albinism are on the rise in Zululand and linked to a growing demand for body parts prized in ‘black magic’ to bring good fortune.
Recent incidents include the murder of a young boy in eShowe earlier this year, and the arrest of a woman who attempted to sell children with albinism to a sangoma in Manguzi.
The arrest occurred while police were searching for an abducted four-year-old boy from uMkhobose in eSikhaleni.
Albinism is an inherited genetic condition in which the body does not produce enough melanin – the chemical responsible for eye, skin and hair colour.
Because of the lack of pigmentation, the affected people have very pale skin, hair and eyes.
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