African spirituality is one of the most controversial conversations today, in fact since the beginning of colonisation. For many years Africans were taught that their practices to connect to a higher power were wrong, bad, witchcraft, would lead to eternal damnation and most redundantly that they were incorrect. It was preached and preached for centuries until it became common to ridicule and pompously try to make those who were still in touch with the tradition and practices conform to a “more righteous path”. I use the word ‘more’ because who really knows how to connect to God or any being greater than ourselves, who knows just the right and most pleasant or agreeable way to go about it?

Funny enough, in my past, I would not have been able to express myself as I am now when it comes to spirituality and more compactly religion. I was born and raised Christian, and in our household with that came a responsibility to uphold. We did not entertain or talk about anything that had to do with traditional practices. I grew up knowing that they were wrong and done in the dark because they belonged in the darkness and were never done with good intentions or even for good purpose. I would get a fright every time I walked past a person wearing traditional attire – although no one ever told me to react that way directly, I suspect that the stories that we were told growing up had a lot to do with that. I remember being told stories about how people even consult traditional healers (Sangomas), mediums or prophets secretly to get attain certain things in life even though they were Christian and were not supposed to according to the religion. I never understood why it was done in secret and because it was done in secret that cemented the idea that maybe it was because they were up to no good.

As I grew older and got out into the world it was easier for me to question, and through exposure and conversations, I came to the realisation that people still consulted with traditional healers as a way to connect with their ancestors as they are the closest they can be to this higher power or God. “Though we know why others do it, come on now let us be real.” Even your so-called Christians do it in secret while preaching another language. Now that was the part that confused me. Why is it that something that could be so easy was made to be so difficult to understand?

One of the messages that was preached in the era of the colonisation of the black person was that everything that we did, that we were, that we knew, made us wrong. No wonder as black people we struggled for so many decades to embrace all that we are, without it coming across as though we are trying to prove a point.

This brings me to a contradictory point: the over exposure of that which was meant to be sacred. Social media and television have made it way too easy for information and I mean any information to be out there, and sadly one can even be exposed to things that by choice you would rather do without the knowledge of. There are a lot of videos where people talk about the dark side of consulting with traditional healers and others even show explicitly the rituals performed. These are the kind that further send the message of hate towards the practice because I believe that that is not all that there is to it, because equally, there are television programmes such as Dloz’lami where people get genuine help for different problems, and where others are even told to go back to church by their ancestors in order to lead fulfilling lives. From what I gather from the show and many others like it is that every person has different ancestors, as these are those that have passed from this life and can thus offer guidance on how to navigate through it better than they did, they are the ones closest to the higher power. It is not so much so to say that they pray to them but that they recognise and pay homage where necessary.

Others argue that these practices were not kept secret because they were all bad but because there is a certain level of respect that must be associated with the performance of some ritual or with the knowledge of some information especially since it is so personal beyond just what meets the naked eye. As someone who has been on a mission to understand and make sense of spirituality and religion, I do agree that there is some information that did not concern an audience. However, I also do understand that for a very long time as black Africans, we have struggled with the authenticity of our culture and religion and so I believe with time there will be an equilibrium.

This piece was written as part of the Fundza Fellowship Programme.