MOST sangomas buy their ancestral clothes – but sangoma Gift Madonsela said his are sent to him by his ancestors.
He said he dreams about the clothes and then amadlozi direct him where to go. He goes to the exact spot as directed and that’s where he finds the clothes.
Madonsela said he sometimes finds them in the river and sometimes in the veld. Madonsela has received clothes five times and he believes these are not just any clothes.
“They are powerful. Each one comes with its own miracles to help me heal my patients, to protect me from evil spirits and to guide me where to find muthi for my patients,” he said.
The sangoma from Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, said when the first outfit arrived he refused to take it because he didn’t believe the ancestors had send it to him. “I went home and my ancestors came to me in a dream asking why I refused to take the clothes,” he said.
“The following day I went to the river and found the clothes still there and this time I took them.”
He said he knows izangoma perform rituals at the river and sometimes leave their clothes but the ones he gets are specifically sent to him.
His gobela Mpiyakhe Mthimkhulu said the first time he had the dream, Madonsela told him about it but he was sceptical, thinking it was clothes left by other izangoma.
“When he told me he had another dream and even described the colour of the clothes I advised him to go and he found it,” said the gobela.
Madonsela was initiated in Malawi and he’s undergoing further training as a sangoma.
