Medicine Beliefs Traditional Doctors Healers Other Practitioners

© 2023 Dr Margaret Sheppard

Traditional Doctors



Brief History


In reconstructing traditional religion and medicine it is clear that the role of traditional practitioners today is more on an individual or private basis. Traditionally their role was much wider. The great change undoubtedly came when the Chiefs were converted to Christianity. Before Christianity, the Chief was the magico-religious leader of the tribe and in this capacity headed all other traditional practitioners.

Badimo (the Ancestors) were  very important. They were believed to be hierarchically arranged with the royal Badimo higher than the Badimo of commoners. Connection with the world of Ancestors was via the senior male living kin on a domestic basis, but for the tribe as a whole, the Chief was the link with the royal Ancestors who oversaw the welfare of the nation.

Traditional doctors acted in an advisory capacity only, to Chiefs or heads of households, on establishing and maintaining these links with Ancestors, but the Chief or senior male family member was always the main celebrant of all ceremony and ritual in this connection. In pre-Christian times the Chief was the Supreme traditional doctor and at his installation took control of the two most powerful medicine horns : lenaka labokgosi (horn of chiefship) and lenaka lantwa (horn of war).

These horns contained medicines that protected the tribe against adverse influences, including other hostile tribes. The pre-Christian Chiefs, as the Supreme traditional doctors of their tribes, also performed all the major tribal level ceremonies. These chiefs were responsible for the supernatural protection of the tribal boundaries and the annual dipeku ceremony (that protected the capital). They also celebrated, as the main celebrant, the various ceremonies conducted at tribal level during the agricultural cycle, and the other traditional ceremonies, the most important of which was the rainmaking.

Under the Chief were the various traditional practitioners, the dingaka (traditional doctors). Of these there were the dingaka tsa morafe - responsible to the Chief for the general protection of the tribe, and the Chief's special and usually hereditary dingaka tsa kgosing. These were attached to the Chief's kgotla and acted under his orders, for example, during court cases. In addition there were the baroka or dingaka tsa pula, the rainmakers. The baroka, probably because of the unreliability of the rains in this semi-arid area, were very much respected.  Modimo (God) was believed to be the ultimate source of rain, but it was believed that prayers for rain could be addressed via the royal Ancestors and their living intermediary, the Chief. If rain fell it was said that "Kgosi e bua pila le badimo" (the Chief is speaking well with the ancestors). But if there was drought then it was believed that the Ancestors were angry and an atonement sacrifice was necessary. On one occasion  in a neighbouring tribe when there was terrible drought, the Chief, arranged for a black ox to be slaughtered on the grave of his ancestor. Following the sacrifice, the rain fell and the drought ended.

The specialist rainmaking materials were stored in a special hut  in the Chief’s kgotla called the segotlwana sa pula. When their services were necessary the tribal baroka would retire here with the Chief and burn the rainmaking medicines (mostly roots, bulbs and animal fats, but it is still rumoured that special human parts such as those from very black people are/were also used). This burning would produce thick dark smoke "like the rain clouds" that it was believed would then be caused to form. The  methods of rainmaking varied between the individual baroka. Schapera by interviewing very aged informants was able to collect information on the Bakgatla (a neighbouring tribe) rainmakers, but he emphasised that they had long disappeared on a tribal scale by the time he was doing his main fieldwork (in the 1930s - 1950s) . However he was able to quote some of the old incantations that show quite clearly the appeal to Ancestors during the process. The following is part of a prayer of a rainmaker whilst he was preparing the medicines:-

Bomatshatha, bomatshatha  abokgosi (Shoulderers of Chiefship)

pepepa bothakga bamanakana-dialla, (carry well the people of the crying horns)

bamanakana-tsapodi, (the people of the goat's horn)

eleng baroka batlhogo tsa Matebele, (rainmakers who fought the Matebele)

Molebedu, senamolela masogana, (Molebedu, intercede for the youths)

senamolela barena; (intercede for the Chief)

keabua, kebua pula, I am speaking, I speak about rain)

agoswe phofu. (let the eland die).


The following song was used by the same rainmaker while he was walking around the fire to bring the rain:-

Mokgatla omogolo waMaEshego apitsa (Great Kgatla, son of Matshego of the pot).

kerapela wena Lentswe aKgamanyane a Pilane (I pray to you Lentswe Kgamanyane Pilane)

nthuse, agone pula (help me, let it rain;)

le wena Sechele a Motswasele Mokwena omogolo (and you, Sechele Motswasele, great Kwena;)

kerapella molona, (I pray to you all)

kelona medimo emogolo yalefatshe; (you are the great gods of the land)

lewena Mongwaketse Gaseitsiwe ;(and you, Gaseitsiwe the Ngwaketse;)

kebua lelona gore lenkutlwe; (I speak to you all that you may hear me)

lewena Moshweshwe morwaMokotedi; (and you, Moshweshwe, son of Mokotedi)

kebiletsa medimo e molona, (I call to these gods through you all)

ke ele Iona medimo yalefatshe lelegodimo; (for you are the gods of earth and heaven;)

lewena Kgama Mophoting, (and you Khama, the duiker)

thapelo e retse reabaya gowena; (this prayer we place before you (sing.))

Refeng pula yalona, (Give us your (plural) rain)

keyalona pula e (it is yours this rain)

Gobua nna mong waditlhare, nna Rapedi. (it is I who speak, Rapedi, owner of the medicines)

kerapela mong watsone Motsatsi, (I pray to their owner Motsatsi)

 kare, "Molebedu nthuse, (I say, "Molebedu, help me)

pula e ya gago (this is your rain)

wena matshatha abokgosi pepepa bothakga, you the shoulderer of chiefship, carry well)

mosunkwane abopoo, aboPoo aboRradira (the charms of Poo, Radira and company.")

Kefeditse. (I have finished)

Thobela! (Hail!)

Agone pula! (Let it rain)

These are just some of the incantations quoted by Isaac Schapera in “Rainmaking Rites of the Tswana Tribes” (1971) that show very clearly how the royal Ancestors were invoked in rainmaking.

As already noted, Baroka were greatly respected, but as Robert Moffatt of the London Missionary Society noted: "The rainmaker seldom dies a natural death." Batswana were quick to blame and punish fraudulent practitioners. However when this happened, if Baroka failed to succeed in making the rain they promised, it was the man not the underlying system that the Batswana questioned. (See section on Dikgafela - Harvest thanksgiving - as this perhaps retains remnants of traditional Rain making. Also when there is drought or the rains are late, the Christian Churches are called to the Chief’s Kgotla to pray for rain).

Chiefs also had their dingaka tsa boloi (also known as dingaka tsa kaloya). These were the sorcery specialists. This method could be used as an alternative to inter- or intra-tribal war. Ritual murders to obtain substances for these medicines were carried out with the sanction of the Chief. For example the Victorian traveller (circa 1882)  J.Campbell, claims that the Bangwaketse Chief Makhaba, told him he possessed special strengthening medicines made from the entrails and bone marrow of a rival Chief killed in battle. Makhaba claimed that these were very powerful and effective medicines.  

In addition to these traditional practitioners employed on tribal business by the Chief, many had a private practice, being employed by individuals and/or families. In the old days there seem to have been various specialists:- rainmakers, thobega (setting fractures), ritual purification specialists, those specializing in children's complaints, protection specialists, those who specialized in productive problems - of people, cattle and lands.



The effect of the Coming of Christianity

In the nineteenth century Tswana  society was increasingly affected by the outside world which led to certain social changes, resulting from the increasing contact with Europeans. Tswana traditional religion was greatly affected by the challenge from Christianity. The Chief was traditionally the magico-religious leader, so once the Chief was converted many of the religious ceremonies held at national level were either greatly modified or abandoned altogether.

Among the Bangwaketse, Gaseitsiwe was the first Ngwaketse Chief to obtain a white missionary from the L.M.S. in 1871. He never became a Christian himself, but his son Bathoen 1 was educated by missionaries and became a Christian, and under him many traditional national practices were abandoned, for example, in 1892 he abandoned traditional rainmaking, and the last initiation was in 1896. This weakened the power of the traditional doctors as the Chief's advisers on ritual matters. Their position as the Chief's political advisers was further eroded by the fact that, with increasing contact with Europeans in South Africa and other parts of Bechuanaland, the missionaries were more useful to advise the Chief on these type of political activities than the traditional doctors (dingaka tsa morafe and dingaka tsa kgosing). They also lost their former power with the ending of inter-tribal wars for example, the practice of gofoka marumo (literally to sprinkle the weapons with traditional medicine), i.e. the protecting of the tribal army in wartime and on the death of the Chief, became an obsolete custom.

Under the influence of Christian missionaries various laws were passed limiting the powers of traditional practitioners. All the churches condemned the use of magic and punished members who consulted traditional doctors. However, as Schapera states, "Christianity may have provided Tswana with an acceptable substitute for their old religion, it had apparently not been able to convince them that their faith in the efficacy of magic was “idle superstition”.

In 1914 Chief Seepapitso 1 tried to limit the numbers of those who practised as traditional doctors as he wanted to control their activities because he knew of the attempts being made to bewitch him personally. Schapera quotes part of a letter from the Chief's letter book, Tribal Office Kanye 15 .x. 1910. This was a letter he wrote to his maternal uncle (Malome) Chief Sebele I of the Bakwena : "I inform the Mokwena (i.e. Bakwena Chief) about my life here with the Bangwaketse. I'm not living at all well with them. Wherever I am, evil charms (debeela) are being placed, and the diviners say they are evil charms placed by the Ngwaketse. The purpose of my sending Morapane (the letter bearer, and one of his confidential servants) is this because father, I beg you to help me by cleansing (goitaya~ striking, neutralising) the evil charms for me. I mean that the Mokwena should send one of his people here to help me pray to God by cleansing the evil charms. There are dingaka here, but them I fear, lest they find this an opportunity for removing me altogether.

 If my father agrees to this request of mine, I shall be grateful if that person could be here soon, some time next week. This is the errand on which I have sent Morapane."

In 1914 Seepapitso decreed that the name of reliable traditional doctors should be forwarded to him by kgotla heads. When he did not receive a satisfactory response from these heads, he passed a law that if anyone required the services of a traditional doctor they should obtain one through him. He added further: "Whoever seeks a doctor for himself will be committing an offence”. In 1916 he introduced the idea of the registration of traditional doctors, by ruling that he would select those doctors to be allowed to practise and, as there were now enough, no new ones could learn.

The Protectorate Administration largely ignored the whole subject of traditional religion and medicine until the 1920's. In fact in 1908, when the Governor in Bloemfontein urged that a stop should be put to the practice of "witchcraft" and that legislation should be framed for the prosecution of dingaka, the Resident Commissioner in Mafeking retorted that there had been no murder resulting from boloi (sorcery) since 1885, and that it had died out ... So far as any visible effects are concerned.”

In 1927 the Protectorate Administration passed the Witchcraft Proclamation. This act was originally framed because Chief Sebele (Bakwena Chief) complained to the Protectorate Administration of his Tribal Councillors, whom he accused of sorcery against him. The stated aim of the Act was "to suppress the imputations of practice of pretended witchcraft".

By this act it became a penal offence to practise sorcery, to accuse others of sorcery or to practise divination for certain specified purposes. Unfortunately this law confused traditional doctors (dingaka tsa dinaka - those who divine with bones  with baloi (sorcerers/witches). The law was unpopular and very difficult to enforce and in fact was hardly ever enforced. Unfortunately, by confusing traditional doctors with sorcerers, the most effective controllers of sorcery/witchcraft were outlawed. In vain, various Chiefs tried to protest against it, including the Bangwaketse Regent, Ntebogang. The only effect of their protest was for the Administration to distinguish between dingaka tsa dichowa (herbalists) and dingaka tsa dinaka. The former were now described as "honest persons who mix medicines for the purpose of curing their fellows". The latter continued to be outlawed and were classified with sorcerers.

Among the Bangwaketse, Bathoen 11 consolidated the decrees of his father by passing the "Melao ya Dingaka" (Laws for Doctors, professed magicians and medical practitioners) which was passed in 1929. In July 1929 Bathoen read it to an Assembly at the Kgotla. It stated:

" 1a) A doctor may not take (for himself) what has been killed for (use in treating) sickness; his payment will be a live ox, goat or sheep.

1b) A doctor who takes (the meat of) an ox, goat, or sheep, that has been slaughtered (on his instructions) will not be paid a live animal, because he has paid himself.

2) There is no longer to be any fee for divination (alone) let the doctor (also) give medicines (for the patient).

3) A doctor can treat sickness only if he has a written permit from the Chief.

4) If a doctor is unable to cure a sickness he must say so, so that another doctor may be sought; also, let the doctor visit the patient and make medicines for him, (and) not send them by someone else.“

The most important clause of this law was 3) i.e. that a doctor could only practise if he had a permit from the Chief.

In fact the Bangwaketse Chiefs were the only Tswana Chiefs who attempted to ensure that trustworthy traditional doctors continued to practise, whilst outlawing evil ones. If a traditional doctor was found to be practising sorcery, or encouraging it by giving his clients help in this way, his bones and tools were confiscated and his permit was withdrawn. Bathoen 11 repeatedly announced in kgotla meetings that people should refrain from magical practices and rites that would harm others. Traditionally, before the Protectorate, sorcerers had been put to death on the orders of the Chief, but after the Protectorate was declared, Chiefs no longer retained the power of capital sentencing. However if sorcerers were convicted and then still refused to "undo" their victims, the victims or relatives were given permission by the Chief to resort to vengeance magic - i.e. doctoring the grave of a deceased victim. Convicted sorcerers were also fined heavily and could even be exiled from the village.

These tribal laws still stand, as does the Witchcraft Proclamation. However there have been some changes and additions, for example, at the 28th Session of the African Advisory Council in 1947, the members all regretted the weakening of power of traditional doctors who were dedicated men; at the 35th Session in 1951 a representative from Kweneng drew attention to the fact that traditionally in Molepole there had been easy access to herbalists but now (1951) there was only one doctor to 38,000 people (i.e. the doctor at the Molepole L.M.S. Mission.)


MODERN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO KANYE)



It is preferable and less limiting to use the Tswana word Bongaka; as the English word "medicine" implies a much narrower application of remedies for human sicknesses. Bongaka, on the other hand, is used on a much wider number of occasions. Attention has already been drawn to the fact that much of the aim of Bongaka is to strengthen the seriti (or sehihi) of an individual, or, using Tempels' terminology - promote "vital force". This is in order that the individual concerned and all his/her dependants (including humans, livestock, fields and property) can withstand the attack, challenge, or retribution of adverse physical, mental or supernatural events. Therefore in the following section the role of Bongaka with regard to traditional practices and beliefs, of protection and healing, will be outlined with reference to its part in the life cycle events, the traditional and agricultural year.

Although today many of their traditional functions may have become outmoded and abandoned altogether (e.g. go foka marumo), or with the Chief's acceptance of Christianity, tribal ceremonies may have been Christianized (e.g. prayers for rain), traditional medicine is strong on a local level. Traditional doctors (dingaka tsa morafe and dingaka tsa kgosing) are no longer the Chiefs’ main political advisers. Chiefs themselves, with the introduction of democracy at independence, no longer retain much of their traditional position.

However modern medicine has not displaced traditional medicine. At first traditional medicine survived because there were very few Western medical facilities widely available in the country. Even in the 1980s, whereas there were estimated to be 1 traditional practitioner per 250 - 300 patients*l in Kgwaketse District it was estimated that there was only 1 Western type doctor per 35,645 people. Also Western medicine functions largely as curative and sometimes preventive medicine, but does not fulfil many of the functions of traditional medical philosophy, for example, strengthening the seriti, nor does it cope with many of the symptoms of weakened diriti.

Today (1970's and 1980's) a new role is being found for traditional doctors and medicine. Traditional Doctors' Associations now exist and, although they are suffering many "teething problems", there is a move by Practitioners who are members,to spread their horizons. In 1972 the Dingaka Society of Botswana received official Government recognition and was granted a mandate to regulate the practice of traditional healing and issue licences to those whom it judged were competent  to practise . Its main problems to become a national organization were because of the problems of distance and illiteracy. However by 1975 it was attempting to acquire land in Gaborone to build a training school.

Traditional medicine is dynamic and modernizing and in many areas traditional practitioners were agreeing to participate in locally organized health seminars.







A traditional Doctor with his tools in front of his special house

His certificate issued by the Chief’s tribal administration that licenses him to practise