adminMalamulele — Traditional healers need to stop using human body parts, having sex with their patients and helping criminals, the president of the South African Traditional Healer’s Association has said.
“We must stop using human parts to do medicine, we must stop ritual killings, as we are called to heal people, not to kill people,” Sylvester Hlathi said at a traditional medicine day at the Cheapside Complex in Malamulele, Limpopo, on Wednesday.
Healers needed to stop abusing patients by telling them they would get cured if they had sex with them.
“We are sleeping with our own patients, telling them they will be healed, but only if they sleep with us. This will weaken our traditional medicine, as it is not human and ancestors will punish us.”
He encouraged healers to get tested for HIV/Aids.
“You must stop this thing of saying I don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend; you must get tested so that you can encourage your patients to get tested – because using only traditional medicine to cure this disease is no good.”
Traditional healers needed to stop giving muti (medicine) to criminals to help them get out of prison, or charms to help them commit crime, but work with police instead.
He asked traditional leaders to chase charlatans from their villages and ensure that those who set up shop in their area produced certificates of practice.
Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa secretary, Hosi Edward Chauke, applauded traditional healers for uniting to celebrate traditional medicine day. — Sapa
Online Reporter