I FUNCIÓN SIC Encargado Titular

In general, when a person is experiencing an affliction of some kind s/he will first try various home remedies. If the person is still experiencing an illness a senior member of the extended family or a respected senior community member is asked to arrange a meeting with a preferred traditional healthcare practitioner. Among many black African societies south of the Sahara it seems that usually the choice is between two distinguishable categories of practitioners, namely the diviner and the herbalist. It is important to note that the roles of a diviner and an herbalist are in practice often combined in one practitioner (Steyn 2003:82). For descriptive purposes and because numerous authors have referred to them in this way I have discussed their roles separately.

Both practitioners successfully complete lengthy, formal apprenticeships, fulfil a healing, protecting and life-giving function by restoring and strengthening life-force and are perceived as respected and indispensable members of a community (Crafford 1996:16; Hammond-Tooke 1989:122–123; Herselman 2000:6–7).

3.3.3.1 Diviners

The first most widely known category of traditional healthcare practitioners is the diviner known by the Xhosa-speakers as isangoma or igqira, the Zulu-speakers as isangoma or ngaka, and the Tswana-speakers and Pedi-speakers as ngaka. The ancestor spirits typically call the diviner to this vocation by means of visions, dreams or illnesses that could include any kind of misfortune. The diviner is hence perceived as a person who can mediate the will and intentions of the ancestor spirits

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(Herselman 2000:7–8). Using a divination method such as bone-throwing or trance, which transpires with the help of the ancestor spirits or sometimes by magical means, diviners are able to predict certain future events, detect the causes of illnesses, and prescribe the correct treatment. The patient’s close kin and friends and sometimes other close connected community members are generally present during a divination session. In spite of the fact that most diviners have an extensive knowledge of medicines, in cases where the use of specific medicines is required the patient is usually referred to an herbalist (Crafford 1996:16; 114; Kiernan 1995:4; Mönnig 1983:80; Thorpe 1991:114).

3.3.3.2 Herbalists

The herbalist, called an inyanga by the Zulu-speakers, ixhwele by the Xhosa- speakers and ngaka by the Pedi-speakers, is ordinarily not called by the ancestor spirits, rather s/he becomes a practitioner of her/his own free will. This healthcare practitioner has specialised knowledge of plants, roots and other substances, such as seawater, lion and elephant droppings, crushed shark fin, different animal fats, as well as knowledge on the methods of preparation to strengthen, heal, protect and bring about prosperity. Some of these medicines are referred to by the Nguni- speakers as umuthi and by the Sotho-speakers as dihlare and have natural healing abilities and are used in this regard, where others are used in a magical context (Hammond-Tooke 1989:104, 118–120; Herselman 2000:8).

It is possible for an herbalist to use medicines to harm people and the medicine may even consist of human body parts. This kind of usage of medicine, however, would count as an act of sorcery and, as indicated earlier in this study, is heavily condemned by society (see Special Assignment, SABC 3: 2009/04/21). Nguni- speakers, for example, refer to these medicines as ubuthi, which means destructive medicines.

Herselman (2007:63) also referred to the use of human body parts by practitioners not only to harm others, but sometimes to “enhance the potency of muti medicines they sell to increase the wealth, health, or fertility of clients”. Although these kinds of acts are definitely not general procedure since most herbalists are considered to

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work for the good of society, they make the position of an herbalist “an ambiguous one” (Hammond-Tooke 1989:104–105, 119; see Niehaus 2001:23).

In most cases the therapeutic work of herbalists bears resemblance to that of the biomedical pharmacist, and the diviner’s diagnostic expertise to that of a biomedical practitioner. As mentioned earlier, the roles of diviners and herbalists are often combined in a single healthcare practitioner (Steyn 2003:82). In general, when they exist as individually defined practitioners, diviners and herbalists are known to work in collaboration by means of referring patients to each other when the need for specific professional assistance arises (Hammond-Tooke 1989:104; Herselman 2000:7).

3.3.3.3 Treatments

When an affliction is caused by God or the ancestor spirits the remedy usually does not consist of medicines, but rather entails different types of ritual actions such as purification, strengthening, protection and thanksgiving rituals. These ritual actions could again consist of different combinations of prayers, invocations, sacrifices or offerings such as the libation of beer and snuff. Generally, these activities are characterised by the participation of members of the patient’s kinship group and/or neighbours and friends, and preferably led by the most senior male of the agnatic group who is able to attend the occasion. If the affliction was the result of sorcery or witchcraft practices, if possible, the evil-doer is identified. Treatment, as explained earlier, will typically take the form of a magical remedy in the form of medicines and various ritual actions to neutralise the evil attack and to strengthen the afflicted person against possible future attacks (Hammond-Tooke 1989:104–105, 114; Herselman 2000:7–8). According to Steyn (1996:7) the diviner, more often than not “retaliates by turning the ‘medicine’ on the conspirator”.

When an afflicted person does not experience any improvement with a given treatment it is believed that the wrong cause was identified and the idea of causation is changed. When a patient, for example, is experiencing a cough diagnosed as resulting from natural causes, but, in spite of the appropriate medicines, the condition deteriorates the idea of causation shifts to supernatural agents such as the ancestor spirits. When the idea of causation has changed the patient will typically,

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and for obvious reasons, also change healthcare practitioners. In Africa, where biomedical systems, traditional healthcare systems, healing ministries such as those of the AICs and other alternative healthcare systems are simultaneously available, patients tend to move between the different systems until the preferred results have been obtained (Hammond-Tooke 1989:124; Herselman 2007:63–64; Thomas 1999:95).

Healthcare system “hopping” occurs relatively often. Many of the ZCC members I had spoken to had first consulted traditional healthcare practitioners and/or prophets of other AICs and/or biomedical practitioners, not necessarily in this order, before they had ended their quest for health in the ZCC. Not all stories of healthcare system “hopping” always end happily. Ashforth (2005:108), for example, relayed the story of Themba’s quest for health. Themba, a previously successful business man in the Johannesburg/Soweto area, experienced constant incidents of ill-health. His family, being Christians, decided that he should consult a prophet of their particular AIC. The treatment, however, was unsuccessful and as a result an inyanga was consulted who also failed to solve the problem. They consulted a further two inyanga’s and a biomedical specialist. The izinyangas jointly came to the conclusion that a neighbour wanted to murder him with the use of evil medicine, but they were not able to mend the situation. The laboratory tests conducted by the biomedical specialist indicated that he was HIV-positive. His family did not accept his HIV status and kept on consulting different medical doctors and inyanga’s, an expensive process, until he passed away. Although Themba’s quest for health was not successful, there are healthcare system “hoppers” who at some stage do obtain health.

Finally, in a traditional African context, it is believed that when a moral rule is trespassed punishment is received in the present (here and now) by means of illness that could include any other kind of misfortune. Reconciliation between the trespasser(s) and the offended person(s) or supernatural being(s) has to transpire in order for healing to take place. This explains why the Truth and Reconciliation Commission assembled after the abolition of apartheid played such a significant role in South Africa’s history. Truthful reconciliation that usually includes negotiations, the appropriate rites and medicines will inevitably restore the equilibrium of life and free a person or person(s) from its effects in the hereafter. It has now become obvious

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that the hardships people experience need to be resolved in this life. The focus of traditional African religious activities is therefore centred on the deliverance of hardships in the here and now rather than in the hereafter (Crafford 1996:11; Mbiti 1971:4–5).