TIMES are tough and even izangoma are feeling the pinch.
Too much competition for clients makes it difficult for others to survive in the industry.
To supplement his income, sangoma Ramaru Mthiba (22) is collecting waste material.
Ramaru from Tambo section in Bekkersdal, west of Joburg said too much competition has clogged the izangoma industry.
“We can go for days without getting customers and one has to have plan B,” he said.
He said things became worse during the Covid as there was one lockdown after another.
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Ramaru says what makes things worse is that many people have lost their jobs.
“Before Covid, we used to make money but now it’s hard. It’s like the industry is clogged and almost every street has a sangoma,” he said.
He says he wakes up in the morning to recylcle in the veld before others came.
“If I don’t wake up, you find nothing when you go late. Life is tough I sometimes sleep in the streets waiting for people to drop waste as there is alsi competition in recycling.”
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Ramaru said he started recycling two years ago.
‘I had to stand on my own because I have no parents and my ancestors showed me that one day I will get my luck in recycling,” he said.
“I’m a hustler sangoma and nothing can stop me from going forward. I plan to sell atchar and buy myself Toyota Conquest to help me move around and to see my clients,” he said.
He said he sees his customers in the evening.
One of his customers, Daniel Sekgobela said he wishes his sangoma’s could be blessed so he could get more customers in the future.
“He’s still young and I hope his ancestors will open his paths one day,” he said
