Eastern Cape traditional healers dismiss proposed health regulations

Traditional healers in the Eastern Cape say the proposed health regulations for members registered with the Traditional Health Practitioners Council are an attack on African spirituality.

Draft regulations were published in June 2024 outlining the processes which traditional health practitioners should follow in registering with the Council.

But traditional healers say the westernised requirements in the impending regulations go against the ancient spiritual communication with ancestors involved in the practice.

Traditionalist Phuthumile Fuyani says Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and the Traditional Health Practitioners Council failed to consult them regarding the regulations.

“The refusal of the ITP Council and the Department of Health (DOH) to engage with Traditional Health Practitioners indeed raises a lot of red flags about the potential for exploitation and suppression of Indigenous knowledge and practice. What the department wants is to regulate traditional medicine, but they are not able to do it without capturing the knowledge holders, which are traditional healers,” says Fuyani.

National DOH spokesperson, Foster Mohale, says the department and the Traditional Health Practitioners Council did a thorough consultation process with all stakeholders.

“The council has embarked on a countrywide roadshow to all provinces to engage with stakeholders. The consultation meeting took place in the Eastern Cape in East London on 14 August, and participants were drawn from all districts of the province.”

He adds: “As part of this process, there was also a meeting of associations of traditional health practitioners from across the country who convened in Gauteng on the 19th of August 2024.”

BELOW: Traditional Health Practitioners Act | E Cape traditional healers oppose the Act: Phuthumile Funani