The traditional medicine market in South Africa is estimated to be worth R18bn, which is a hell of a lot of impepho, never mind everything else that Dr Mpho Roberta Masondo (Gogo Hopane Masekela) says makes up the categories of white, red and black muti.
We are lunching at the super satisfying Cnr Cafe in Craighall Park, where this gentle, softly spoken woman with extremely kind eyes is a regular.
It’s the day after the public holiday and I want to discuss her deep seam of culture and spiritual tradition.
She was a speaker at the recent Organic and Natural Products Expo at the Sandton Convention Centre. and I think that while I love a good braai as much as the next Saffa, I need to expand my horizons and learn more about the practices and belief systems rooted in so many in our land in such a deeply profound way.
Mpho’s journey to initiation as Gogo Hopani Masekela was not a direct or easy path.
“By the time you go to initiation school your people [your ancestors] have already started with you. You think — because I had other plans — I'm just gonna, you know get my PhD, travel, go live in this or that country and then they stop everything.”
She grew up in Thokoza in the East Rand with her grandmother, as her mother was studying and working in the US. She was restless and believes this reflects the fact that she was resisting her calling. She studied media and communications at CPUT and was settled for four years in academia when, in 2014, everything erupted.
“We call it Uquma — it’s your awakening. I was talking crazy. It becomes so intense, you're not sleeping — I'm dreaming of tornadoes, floods, celebrities, president. But now I understand what all of that means — every spiritual ancestor gives you certain dreams: if it’s leopards and lions it's amakosi. If you dream of snakes it's water spirits, sometimes known as Umdao. If you dream of birds its a different clan. And different people used to work with your family, you're actually not aware of it until you initiate, then specific surnames belonging to specific clans come to you to ask for help.”
By the time you go to initiation school your people ([your ancestors]) have already started with you. You think — because I had other plans — I'm just gonna you know get my PhD travel go live in this or that country and then they stop everything.
— Dr Mpho Roberta Masondo (Gogo Hopane Masekela)
As Mpho speaks I realise how embedded in specificity, location and genealogy this spiritual practice really is, but also how people resist the calling.
“Yes, because when you don't understand it most of the time it brings shame to the family. So most families are like, let's fix this. Let's close this thing down very quickly, before we are embarrassed by this child. I think there's a lot of shame around traditional healing. So they hide these things, and others think that we've suppressed it, like no one's doing it, and then two generations later — boom it explodes.
“So when I started, I was initiating my mother's side, which is Masondo, the snake and water. And then I finish there and I'm like, okay, my life is stabilising — because even with my divorce everything was finalised, and then we reconciled, remarried, had a third child, so everything was going fine.
“And then just as I'm about to relax, the other side, my father’s side, now awakens, but, yo wena, it awakens with dithaba — mountains — this specific one is very painful for me, because now I have to learn herbs, I have to go stay in the mountain for some time. And the first time I went to Modimolle Mountain I was totally unprepared, it was freezing. There’s like a spiritual church there — specific times, 3, 6, 9, 12, spiritual healings — people stay there for long. If someone is mentally unstable, you need to know how to give them herbs. If someone is bewitched or cursed, you need to be able to help. It’s been a journey.
“We are sitting on a gold mine — not just in terms of a market but a spiritual gold mine for ourselves as people — to reunite with ourselves and reconnect with who we should be in every aspect of life."
She is a director of the African National Healers Association, which was started in 1989 by Ubaba Mahlaba. His legacy is now being carried on by his son.
Mpho calls for a reinvigoration of tradition and culture to root the youth in their future by honoring the traditions of the past.
“I really like what Joshua Maponga has to say about ancestral intelligence — our own AI. It has been there for years and this wisdom has existed long before modern technology. [It] can really help to resolve issues in our society, using our deep wells of wisdom and ancestral knowledge — our people have known how to make fire and rain. We only remember who we are on Heritage Day.”
