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sangomaslatest news & developments
Practitioners will have to pay registration fees to the council every year and show proof of being appropriately trained for the type of service they offer. (Photo supplied)

By 2025, sangomas will have to be registered to practise

The health department says new regulations likely to come into force early next year are a step towards getting Western and traditional medicine to work together

Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Social media sullies sacred values in the chase for clicks and views

Traditional African cultural practices that were once private are being milked by content creators and twisted into mass entertainment

Families of those lost in the Lily Mine collapse want the search for their loved ones to restart. (Felix Dlangamandla)

Four years on, Lily Mine families want recovery of the bodies of three missing workers to restart

The ground swallowed 90 people, but three died in the tragedy and their bodies were not found

(Graphic: John McCann/ M&G)

Legacy of a lesbian sangoma

A tribute to Zean ‘Nkunzi’ Nkabinde, an activist who made a rich contribution to the Gay and Lesbian Memory in Action’s work

Buhlebezwe Siwani’s performance piece

​A sangoma connects the art of performance and of healing with a search for identity

Traditional healing and drama art may not typically intersect, but they do have a connection.

A screenshot from one of sangoma Nokulinda Mkhize’s videos.

@Noksangoma explains the five types of spirits you may not have known about

Sangoma Nokulinda Mkhize analyses the ancestors found in Southern African bloodlines.

Beware the charlatan sangomas

Ugandan entrepreneurs are taking advantage of your problems to increase their own fortunes while telling yours.

The fashion designer who felt the call of the ancestors

Karabo Finger was called to be a traditional healer when her mother, the family elder and a spiritual medium, died and connected her to her ancestors.

Sangomas’ power challenges state

An anthropologist schooled in traditional healing, Professor Robert Thornton, says it is deeply rooted in ideas and not science.

Sexual healing: An African sex safari

The African Sexual Healing Tour is empowering, but bruised by its bland approach to heterosexual cliché.

As the world embraces the digital era

I’m rattled by the convulsions of a sangoma

A sangoma’s unsolicited advice comes across as perhaps a little desperate.

Prudence Mabele was an activist by day and a traditional healer by night. She helped win the fight for HIV treatment in SA and went on to tackle a host of other issues including LGBTI rights. She passed away on 11 June 2017

Prudence Mabele: “I have seen ARVs save lives”

Mabele helped lead the fight for antiretrovirals in SA. A memorial service will be held for her today. This was her last interview with Bhekisisa.

A 2009 file photograph of Agnes Gaobepe

Use of traditional healers vastly exaggerated

Claims that 80% of South Africans prefer traditional healers over public healthcare are false; in reality less than 2% go to a sangoma first.

Thabiso Siswana balances her corporate job with her sangoma training.

The new generation of sangomas

You have no alternative but to obey your calling, says a young healer, but it is a spiritual blessing. She spoke to Aneesa Fazel.

A court has ruled a woman who was “badly tormented by her ancestors” must be reinstated in her post

Labour Appeal Court rules sangoma’s sick note valid

A court has ruled a woman who was "badly tormented by her ancestors" must be reinstated in her post, even though she leave without permission.

Sangoma claims Safa owes him R90 000

A sangoma says Bafana Bafana will not win another match until he is paid an outstanding R90 000 by Safa for "magic" to beat France at the World Cup.

Unconventional is the real norm

You have a bit of a cough, night sweats and a searing headache every now and again. So, what’s the diagnosis?

Sangoma’s World Cup snake seized by SPCA

A python used by a South African sangoma to control the progress of teams in the World Cup has been seized by animal welfare inspectors.