A large group of traditional healers demonstrated and conducted sacrifices in Thohoyandou while appealing to their ancestors to intervene to stop traditional healers from engaging themselves in ritual murder.

Members of the Vhembe Traditional Health Practitioners Association entered the old Venda Parliament Building on Friday, while singing and dancing sacred songs (malombo) in a bid to convey their important message.

Led by the famous local traditional healer, Dr Mmbulaheni Neluvhola, the more than 300 traditional healers publicly criticized traditional healers who commit ritual murder in order to use body parts to cure people. Said Dr Neluvhola: “Traditional healers who practice ritual murder should be locked up in jail for the rest of their lives. They are harming our wonderful profession, because our mission is to save life, not to kill. They are not real traditional healers but hooligans who have no respect for human life. How on earth can a traditional healer think that a cure is found from human flesh? That is barbarism at its worst. African herbs are what real traditional healers use to cure people. Effective herbal medication, proper customer care and good communication skills make one prosper in this industry.”

Neluvhola said there is a need to teach traditional healers about the mixing of herbs rather than resorting to ritual murder. “If they find out that their medicines are not working, they must not resort to the use of human flesh. They need to have good knowledge of herbs to produce a concoction with good results.” He further condemns businesspeople who think they would become rich by committing ritual murder. “A person can accumulate wealth through hard work, not ritual murder. They need to develop a business strategy that would attract customers and have relevant stock in their stores, not committing ritual murder. We will continue with our campaigns to warn our counterparts not to engage themselves in ritual murder.”