But then I thought there might actually be some method in their madness. But first the madness:

Sangomas, also known as traditional healers, are African shamans. They worship and are “called” by their ancestral spirits. They deal with a range of issues, from healing illnesses to counteracting witches. They practise strict rituals while doing their interventions, including going into wild trances during which the ancestral spirit is supposed to posses the healer. They throw bones to dish out advice, often pointing a finger at the evil person causing the harm. And they dish out muti, which are medications from animal or plant origin – not for the efficaciousness of the potion, but for its spiritual significance. For instance, very few local soccer players will take to the field without their dose of muti.

This is not science.

So what could the method be? Well the fact is that up to 80% of the indigenous population consult sangomas, either exclusively or before seeing a medical professional. This is a very strong belief system and one can’t just wish it away. So it makes sense that as the primary, trusted health consultants these quacks should be trained to recognise diseases such as AIDS and refer these patients to proper doctors. Why would they do that? After all HIV cures from sangomas are all the rage.  Well I suppose that by bringing them into the formal medical community they would feel more collegial and refer patients to their “colleagues”.  In other words: we know they’re crazy but so is most of the population that believe in them so let’s make the best of a bad situation and try and co-opt them to do something useful and try and save lives.

Maybe. But then Professor Gundidza Mazuru, of the Wits school of medicine’s pharmacy department says:

“I will be one of the professors who will be teaching them about manufacturing their products, clinical tests, packaging, and the regulations governing manufacturing and distribution before they could think of putting their products on the shelves.”

Products? Clinical tests? WTF?

Sangomas are not benign. They cause many life-threatening problems with their “treatments”, especially through their use of enemas and the psychological trauma they subject on their “patients”. And sometimes it gets truly evil. The rogue ones are involved with harvesting human body parts – usually genitalia, ritual murders, raping of virgins to “cure” AIDS, and baby rape. See F.A.C.T.net for the horrific details.

This sort of thing does not belong in a University.