THE Department of Correctional Services (DCS) yesterday urged traditional healers to refrain from using their muthi to protect criminals.
The call was made by DCS national deputy commissioner Reverend Themba Vundla during a local leg of the Victim-Offender Dialogue (VOD) stakeholder engagement session at the Ngangelizwe multi-purpose centre in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. The VOD was attended by church leaders, traditional healers, community leaders and tribal authorities.
Vundla said the initiative was part of a national ministerial programme launched by Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele late last year. It seeks to restore relations between victims of crime and the perpetrators by encouraging dialogue.
"Traditional health practitioners must learn to use traditional medicine properly. If you say to an offender 'I will give you muthi to win a case in court', that is no longer healing but pure witchcraft."
The effectiveness of the programme was demonstrated when Zukiswa Sokutu-Tube, a mother of four from North Crest, publicly forgave 32-year-old Anathi Qashana, who murdered her son in 2006.
Qashana was later sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the murder charge.
Do not use muthi to protect criminals - healers urged
THE Department of Correctional Services (DCS) yesterday urged traditional healers to refrain from using their muthi to protect criminals.
The call was made by DCS national deputy commissioner Reverend Themba Vundla during a local leg of the Victim-Offender Dialogue (VOD) stakeholder engagement session at the Ngangelizwe multi-purpose centre in Mthatha, Eastern Cape. The VOD was attended by church leaders, traditional healers, community leaders and tribal authorities.
Vundla said the initiative was part of a national ministerial programme launched by Correctional Services Minister Sbu Ndebele late last year. It seeks to restore relations between victims of crime and the perpetrators by encouraging dialogue.
"Traditional health practitioners must learn to use traditional medicine properly. If you say to an offender 'I will give you muthi to win a case in court', that is no longer healing but pure witchcraft."
The effectiveness of the programme was demonstrated when Zukiswa Sokutu-Tube, a mother of four from North Crest, publicly forgave 32-year-old Anathi Qashana, who murdered her son in 2006.
Qashana was later sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to the murder charge.
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