Healers can’t resist calling

Those were the bold words of prominent Eastern Cape sangomas who shared their views this week with the Saturday Dispatch on the controversial topic of Christianity versus the calling of becoming a sangoma, following reports that Eastern Cape musician Phelo Bala had reverted to Christianity after undergoing nine months of sangoma training last year.

Phelo is the youngest of the famous Bala brothers music group, which includes award-winning Loyiso and Zwai Bala. Phelo also made a name for himself when he was part of the award-winning Joyous Celebration gospel group.

However last year he dropped out of the group to answer the calling to become a sangoma, despite his Christian background.

Having begun the training, the muso reportedly said on radio recently that he had decided to abandon his sangoma duties and convert back to his Christian ways. He had reportedly heard of his calling last year when he fell sick and medical doctors were unable to treat his condition.

His plight highlights a dilemma faced by many young African men and women who are often strongly encouraged to become tradition healers when their elders tell them they have been called upon by their ancestors for a specific responsibility to heal.

As the world we live in is heavily influenced by Western culture, accepting the call to become a sangoma has become more difficult as certain African traditions are seen by the Western world to have negative connotations, such as being thought of as “uncivilised”, “unChristian” and “linked to witchcraft”.

As if the negative connotations were not enough, corruption has also affected the way society perceives the calling, from the high costs people have to pay to undergo the training, to sangomas and traditional healers who claim to be able to kill people and make criminal cases disappear, among other things.

In their defence, sangomas and traditional healers argued that Christianity was no better as it has over the years become corrupted.

Icamagu Institute’s Dr Nokuzola Mndende, who is a practitioner and respected leader of African indigenous religion, said: “It’s not an easy route and because of people it has now become too expensive, making people resort to the churches. It has been corrupted by people. It’s the same in churches where we see in people being made to eat snakes. That is no longer Christianity. Now we get traditional healers who want to be amagqirha. When you are called, you are called to heal not kill.”

While some sangomas embrace their craft exclusively, there are those who have struck a balance between Christianity and being a sangoma, even though some would say these are two different religions.

Mbulelo Mgwelo, who is a practising traditional healer in Mdantsane, told the Saturday Dispatch how he accepted the calling.

“I did the first important steps of accepting the calling but I really did not like it. But because I have a gift of healing people I appeased the elderly to use my gift for traditional healing. I started a Zion church and I am an archbishop. It has now spread in other provinces. We have produced three CDs and one DVD.”

Contrasting beliefs surfaced when Mndende said: “If you believe in ancestors you cannot believe in Jesus because the Bible says those who have died have no portion in those who live. With us if you are called by your ancestors it means the dead do have a portion in you. These things contradict.”

After Phelo Bala said he had reverted to Christianity, Mndende said: “Why did he stop going to church and accept the calling, if his ancestors were not powerful? The problem is that people think God is Christian and the only way for them to know God is if they go to church. “They forget that Christianity only came about years after Jesus died. People become ignorant and want social status – they believe if you are not a church-goer you are living behind in times and you will not be buried with dignity.”

Mndende argued that even those raised in Christian backgrounds could be called upon by their ancestors. She said this meant that their ancestors lived in their spirits.

Another non-Christian sangoma is Siphiwo “Mawawa” Nyobo from Mdantsane’s NU17.

He said his ancestors would not allow him to go to church even though he believes in God, the Creator.

“I don’t go to church and my wife, who grew up in the Assemblies of God faith, also stopped going to church. Our children don’t go to church but that doesn’t mean that we don’t know Qamata .

“When I pray I pray to my ancestors and as my elders, I trust them enough to open the road for me and communicate with God on my behalf because I am their child,” Mawawa said.

While relaying the fascinating story of how he came to learn of his calling, Nyobo said he started dreaming at around the age of six of events that would eventually come true. The father of four shared how he resigned from his top government financial manager post in the provincial treasury department, lost everything and then spent about three years in Mozambique training to heal people.

He said he also grew up in a Christian household where the church services happened in his home but as the belief goes, one cannot run away from the calling.

Former international boxing champion Welcome Ncitha, who is a sangoma, has however managed to find a balance between Christianity and his calling and he says each calling is unique.

He also emphasised that there was a problem with Western civilisation brainwashing African people into believing their traditional ways were wrong, dirty and uncivilised.

“I grew up Roman Catholic and I still go to church. People sometimes question how I am able to do both but I have my way of answering them and I have my reasons. The calling is something that comes from your home; it is the way our ancestors lived many years and generations ago. Christianity is a Western term but our ancestors did believe in God but we lost our African ways when we were introduced to the Western way of doing things.

“Now when we want to practise our traditions we are told they are wrong but this is how our ancestors lived and they did things innocently. Today we are told our ways are dirty. Some people with the calling choose the churches but you can’t run away from your calling, you are called upon for a reason.

Charismatic churches have however become a new home to many sangomas who grew up in a Christian background.

The drums which have become part of the African traditions, the music, the dance in these churches are just some of the things that attract sangomas to these churches, where they feel at home.

“Those churches are purely African and I sometimes go there too. I go to church because of my God; it’s about knowing what God wants.

“Being igqirha and attending church I believe in the 10 commandments stipulated in the Bible, it is also what we believe in as sangomas but it’s just that our people never wrote those things down,” Ncitha said.