A 45-YEAR-OLD sangoma from Nyanga, Cape Town, is gatvol with his neighbour.
He said his neighbour started shouting on the street last Sunday, 3 July, calling him a fake sangoma who used muthi to destroy people’s lives. He said the neighbour had been a thorn in his flesh for some time now.
“He once accused me of sleeping with his wife and now, he is saying I’m evil. There was a sangoma that was recently killed in Soweto over such allegations and I don’t take that lightly,” said the sangoma.
“On Sunday when he said I’m fake I got very angry. I wanted to go and stab him, but people in the house restrained me.”
He said he went to the cop shop and opened a case against the man for tarnishing his name. The neighbour, who lives only two houses away, said the sangoma was lying about the argument. He said he went to the sangoma’s house, wanting to talk to his own younger brother but the sangoma kept intefering. The neighbour believes the sangoma has turned his own brother and his parents against him.
“I took my brother from the rural areas to come and stay with me so he can go to school,” said the neighbour.
“Instead, he spends too much time at the sangoma’s house and has dropped out of school to become a security guard.”
He said his brother’s been staying at the sangoma’s house and didn’t listen to him.
The younger brother said his brother was jealous as the sangoma was helping him to achieve his dream.
“I left his house to stay with the sangoma because I was unhappy. Now things are going well for me which makes him jealous.”
The sangoma said he speaks to the brothers’ parents all the time and they were happy the younger brother was staying with him, as he also wanted to be a sangoma.
Warrant Officer Joseph Swartbooi confirmed the incident: “Nyanga police are investigating a case of crimen injuria. The complainant alleges that he was swearing at him on Sunday at around 12pm. The suspect in the matter is yet to be arrested.”
