A trainee sangoma has turned to the Port Elizabeth Small Claims Court in a bid to recoup R25 000 she says she paid to a traditional healer who allegedly tried to lure her into witchcraft instead.

The Herald newspaper reports that Gcobisa Rasmeni‚ 36‚ alleges the traditional healer led her to a river in Cradock to be initiated (ukuthwasa) in order to be a fully fledged sangoma.

She claims she was handed a black cat and told to sacrifice it as part of the rituals she was required to perform. This caused her to back out at the last minute.

“I approached him in the first place because I was sick and needed healing. I would not have approached him if I knew he wanted to initiate me into witchcraft‚” the Herald quoted Rasmeni as saying.

The sangoma denied the allegation of witchcraft. He said his work was above board and accused Rasmeni of tarnishing his name.

"It’s not true that I bewitched her or her family. In fact it’s her neighbour who bewitched her‚" the Herald quoted him as saying.

Rasmeni says her family have left their home because they heard “strange noises and things walking on the rooftop”.

“Funny things happen around me. Sometimes money vanishes out my hand‚” she said.

She borrowed the money to pay the sangoma via a bank credit card facility.

Now her letter to the Small Claims Court states she wants a refund from him within 14 days.