Traditional healers in Zululand have formed an unusual alliance in response to a growing shortage of plants and herbs
Niki Moore
There is a vast illicit market in Durban where many endangered plant and animal products can be bought. Mounds of roots, powdered bark and skins, teeth and entrails of rare animals are available to the makers of muti in the immense and lucrative business of traditional medicine.
At the end of the day, as the passing trade goes home, these products are dumped in rubbish bins. The tradesmen are too tired to lug these goods home and the customer wants them fresh. And anyway, another truckload will arrive tomorrow.
Every day lorry-loads of men are transported from Durban to remote areas in Zululand. They roam the veld with spades and pangas and dig up, break down or take out anything that will be of use to the stallholders. Often they work with local residents to trap animals and find rare plants.
Legislation offers no effective protection to these endangered species.
Local Zululand inyangas find that when the time comes for them to gather their roots and herbs there is nothing left. This crisis in the supply lines of the traditional healer in the Zululand countryside has led to the formation of an unusual alliance: the inyangas of Zululand are working with their former enemies, the provincial conservation authorities.
For decades the two groups have been at war: the inyangas gathering their stock-in-trade and KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife trying to stop them.
But an innovative approach from community conservation officer Jabulani Shabalala, who is based in Hluhluwe, has created a united front against the threat of extinction of these valuable plants.
“I have been in charge of the indigenous nurseries at the Hluhluwe game reserve for many years,” says Shabalala. “I have been trying for all this time to get the izinyanga to talk to me about their problems, to see if I can help them and also save plants that are disappearing from the veld. At last I have succeeded.”
At a meeting held at the Hluhluwe game reserve this week 40 inyangas from greater Zululand came together under the leadership of Shabalala to find solutions to common problems. They identified five issues that affected all of them.
Firstly and most urgently their stocks were being stripped by the marauders from Durban. The inyangas suggested that they approach the police, the army and the traditional courts to assist with controlling this.
Zululand roads are dotted with roadblocks. The inyangas want the soldiers manning the roadblocks to search, not only for weapons and drugs, but also for indigenous plants. They suggest that if someone is carrying a load of plants for muti, they should be able to produce a KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife-issued permit.
The inyangas resolved to put pressure on local authorities in Zululand to curb the traffic in endangered plants. They would also use their considerable authority to persuade local people not to steal plants or poach animals to sell to the bulk muti-gatherers.
The second problem was to include those inyangas who were not part of this process. The solution was to create a register of inyangas who would have registration cards. This card would enable the inyanga to buy restricted plants and get rationed animal products from KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife at reduced prices. Other incentives to encourage membership of this “inyanga guild” were also proposed.
To stem the tide of the waning supply of plant muti, the idea of establishing a special nursery appealed to all. To this end, Shabalala runs the KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife indigenous nurseries, and is creating supplies of rare plants to sell to the inyangas.
He will also supply stock to the inyangas so that they can open nurseries to grow their own supplies.
The project is sponsored by the World Wide Fund for Nature and Anglo American.
Shabalala has negotiated with the management of the Hluhluwe/ Umfolozi park that parts of animals found dead or culled will be offered to the inyangas. These will be sold from a “chemist” set up on the park’s boundaries.
To implement the resolutions of the gathering, it was agreed that a committee be set up to liaise with KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife.
For Shabalala the meeting was a great achievement. “They [the inyangas] told me that this has opened their minds, taught them they must work together, [and they have come to] realise that KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife is not against them.”