Spirituality and meditation are at the core of what media personality Dineo Ranaka is often known for but her ancestral calling is her apex, which she reveals as an ode to her great-great-grandfather from her maternal side.

Mbovu Ngubane Nyom’emhlophe Somahashe! the reality TV star unashamedly queues in her praises to her lineage of traditional healers as she pays homage to her heritage by responding to her ancestral calling –17 years later.  

Although she had been told in the past years by many spiritualists that she was traditionally gifted, Ranaka recently chose to embrace her calling by completing her ancestral training and becoming a traditional healer and is known as Gogo Somahashe.

In an exclusive interview with Sowetan, Ranaka’s first words when describing her journey were, “When you’re not focused on God, God will disturb what you’re focused on.

“I’ve had a focus on God but I had not focused on my ancestral calling. There was a time when I was confused and convinced myself that I don’t have an ancestral calling.”

Ranaka narrated how at first she fell ill in her early 20s, which led to a traumatic hospitalisation with doctors not knowing the reasons behind some of her illnesses.

She said her illness evoked dreams and visions.

“The manner in which certain obstacles presented themselves in my life has been something of a phenomenon. My intuition is an irregular and very heightened intuition… I’d dream with my eyes wide open,” the 37-year-old said.

“I was introduced to my traditional mentor Dr Ngwato through my makeup artist Nthabiseng, who is related to him. I didn’t even think to consult Dr Ngwato, I was actually engaging him on a documentary I wanted to shoot because he heals drug addicts, and through my work I did with Yi,’Lo, I found that darkness very engaging and I wanted to engage with it further through the eyes of a traditional healer. I wanted to see what traditional healing methods versus Western medicine might be missing where people actually relapse,” Ranaka said.

During one of her interactions with Dr Ngwato three years ago, Ranaka said he told her she had natural gifts and although she was trying so hard to refute them, her ancestors were going to call her regardless and she would one day see herself walk through the gates of his initiation school to start her ancestral training.

“And that’s exactly what happened recently. Although she was stunned by such a revelation, Ranaka said that she took her time to start her ancestral journey but rather spent more time with her traditional mentor learning about different forms of healing and practices. 

“Of all the people I consulted with, I felt a spiritual alignment with Dr Ngwato. I felt sincerity and power that came from within. I think the gifts I have to connect so deeply with his gifts that we could speak one language and I could trust him.

“I started spending a lot more time with him, I then grew a liking for family and had to respect his practices. I then gave him a call and I said: ‘I’m ready. I’m coming in. I have accepted that I have spiritual gifts.’”

Ranaka, who remarked that her celebrity status did not matter in the spiritual world nor the traditional field of practice, explained that being known as Gogo Somahashe, undergoing such an initiation, entailed letting go of self and her worldly attachments and being one with nature. 

“Undergoing the ancestral training is very intense. A lot of it requires you to forget about yourself completely. It requires you to forget your image and the status that you’ve built in your world. You need to strip yourself down and be one with nature.

“We spent a lot of time in the mountains digging trees and being taught natural medicines. As it stands I am a qualified traditional healer, I graduated last week. This means I can heal people through the power of spoken word and natural medicine.”  

Ranaka said despite her new title as a traditional healer, she would not let go of her radio presenting at Metro FM and would find a balance. 

“My new journey means I need to apply myself and respond to the calling to heal people who are wounded. In the healing journey, it means I will be working closely with my spiritual father to help heal those who need healing.

"On top of everything that I do, it is important for me to appease God our creator and my ancestors by being a healer, which describes everything I am. I can be a DJ, TV presenter… I can be all these things but it is important to remember that the only thing I do not cease to do is help heal people. I must never stop being a traditional healer.”

Personifying the true essence of her name “Dineo”, which means gift, Ranaka believes she is the people’s gift .

“I’ve got many gifts, I am layered in many gifts and I am myself a volume of gifts to the nation. I am a gift for anyone who comes into contact with me.”