The status of traditional healing in the Limpopo province of South Africa

HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The status of traditional healing in the Limpopo province of South Africa
 
Creator Maluleka, Resenga J.
 
Subject — traditional healing; traditional healers; healthcare system; indigenous knowledge; Traditional Health Council; traditional healers associations; Limpopo province; South Africa
Description Traditional healing and the use of traditional medicines were historically banned by the South African apartheid government. The dawn of democracy saw a change in the laws, which gave freedom to the traditional African practices. Nevertheless, many South Africans are still divided between Western- and traditional African philosophies. This qualitative study, therefore, employed the hermeneutic phenomenological method to investigate the status of traditional healing in the Limpopo province of South Africa. Data collection was done through interviews, and data were analysed thematically. The results suggest that the work done by traditional healers remains marginalised and undermined despite them contributing to the country’s healthcare system. Traditional healers remain unregulated and often left to work on their own under difficult conditions. It is recommended that government play an active role in ensuring that healers are formally incorporated into the country’s healthcare system, which will benefit both the healers and the communities they serve.Contribution: The study investigates the current status of traditional healing in South Africa and highlights that despite having laws that support traditional healing in the country, the practice remains marginalised and healers are working on their own and not within the country’s healthcare system as it is supposed to be. The study is linked to the scope of the journal because it investigates a topic that borders on oral history and indigenous religious practices of South Africans.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2020-10-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/hts.v76i4.6103
 
Source HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies; Vol 76, No 4 (2020); 12 pages 2072-8050 0259-9422
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6103/16370 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6103/16369 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6103/16371 https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6103/16367
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2020 Resenga J. Maluleka https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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