Now that the politicians are talking peace and the police are collecting the weapons of war, KwaZulu- Natal’s inyangas say it’s time to mix a new muti to cleanse the warriors of the blood of their victims.
Uhlambo (peace medicine) is set to replace intelezi (war medicine) as the most popular product on the traditional-medicine market if a new initiative aimed at drawing the province’s estimated 4 000 inyangas, or traditional healers, into the peace process is successful.
About 50 leading inyangas from across the province met provincial peace workers last week in an effort to put an end to the “misuse” of intelezi by battle- bent warriors.
KwaZulu-Natal Peace Committee director Dennis Nkosi said the initiative was the culmination of a series of local meetings launched after “people on the ground told us the inyangas are the only people who can stop the violence. The inyangas are the custodians of the traditions and ethics of their communities, so they have an important role to play in solving the problem of violence.”
Most inyangas who attended last week’s meeting were adamant that “a real inyanga is a respected person who gives medicine to heal the people, not to kill”.
“The problem is that people use our medicine in a wrong way. Even the snakeskins (once given to children to cast off bad spirits and make them obedient) are now used to kill. There must be good directions and the inyangas must be well-trained,” argued Elphias Mhlongo, an inyanga from Eshowe.
Others blamed charlatans for “selling killing medicine when they are not even inyangas”. Said Samuel Blose, the South Coast president of the National Inyangas Association: “People who sell killing medicine should not be called inyangas, they should be independent.”
Some argued that traditional cleansing ceremonies and the slaughtering of animals, known as ihlambo, need to be revived to appease the ancestors.
Nkosi said the fact that these healing ceremonies, which form part of the inyanga’s traditional role, are rarely being performed has contributed to the cycle of violence.
He said the election of a committee of inyanga representatives to work with the peace committee marked the beginning of a “long process”. The committee agreed that the next step would be to enlist the help of amakhosi (chiefs) and izinduna zezinsinzwa (heads of the warriors) around the province in bringing together the perpetrators of violence to be cleansed.
While the precise formula of the peace muti, its price and the potential patients still have to be identified, the inyangas’ appreciation at being brought in “from the wilderness” to which previous peace efforts have relegated them — together with a new understanding of the economics of peace — appear to have encouraged them to commit themselves to the peace path.
As Sbongisile Dlamini from Port Shepstone pointed out: “The killing of the people is the end of our jobs. We get money from curing people, but if they die we get nothing.”