The leader of the Southern African Development Community Unified Ancestors Traditional Practitioners Association, Professor Mbaimbai Hlathi, has urged political parties and their leaders to uphold a high measure of tolerance during and after elections.
Hlathi was speaking during a ritual ceremony held to ask the ancestors to bring peace during and after the national elections. The ritual, which saw hundreds of traditional healers from around the SADC region come together, took place at Mavambe village on Wednesday, 22 May. The ceremony was characterised by all-night drumming and the pouring and drinking of traditional beer to appease the ancestors.
The ceremony comes against the backdrop of rampant intolerance among political parties and their supporters as witnessed in Seshego Juju Valley outside Polokwane, where supporters purported to be of the ANC and the EFF clashed to the extent that shots were fired and some were injured. The same intolerance has been experienced in Musina, where supporters of political parties are removing posters belonging to their rivals.
Speaking during the event, Professor Hlathi hinted that their ancestors showed them what was to happen in dreams and felt that they should have such rituals to appease the ancestors, also asking them to intervene for peace.
"As traditional healers, we could not sit down and fold our hands when the situation is getting out of hand. We have witnessed a lot of violence already, and we do not want it to spill over to the elections and post-elections. We do not want to see blood. There should be tolerance in order to give democracy a chance, and there should be peace throughout the campaigning, during the elections, and after. There should be political maturity, and different political parties should not see others as enemies," he said.
Traditional healer Mr Alpheus Ndimande, from neighbouring Mozambique, said that for the ancestors to intervene for the sake of peace was important. "We are not only performing these rituals for the elections on 29 May 2024 but for peace in other parts of the African continent. There should be peace in the whole of the SADC region, and we have all the trust that our ancestors will change the evil hearts to humane ones," he said.