Medicine Beliefs Traditional Doctors Healers Other Practitioners

© 2023 Dr Margaret Sheppard

Healers and Traditional Medicine


Tswana Traditional Medicine – Bongaka

In 1980s Botswana, especially in the rural areas, traditional medicine and traditional religion were closely interwoven. The Tswana word  Bongaka  embodies these two concepts.

In presenting an account of traditional medicine, some facts should first be noted about traditional Tswana religion because the two are often closely interwoven. In fact it is preferable to use the more inclusive term Bongaka as this concept includes both emphases.

Traditional religion before  European Influence

In many respects such an account can only be a reconstruction because the majority of Batswana now claim

at least nominal Christian belief. Also it should be noted that the written materials of nineteenth century observers must rely solely on European sources, for example, the writings of European travellers, missionaries, and traders. In all of these written accounts an allowance must therefore be made for a certain bias.

Tswana Concept of Humanity

The moral quality of an individual is-believed to be something that grows with age and experience. It is shown in wisdom, care for others and knowledge of human nature. The conformist is respected i.e. a person who follows the accepted pattern of social living, one who is just and mature, generous and kind, and strong morally and spiritually rather than physically.

"Manhood is a matter, not of birth or material prosperity but of human relationships. The ideal of a  Tswana woman is of a “Mma motse" (mother of the household) - the backbone of the family, ward and the village, complementing all the male moral good qualities of her husband.

Each individual is believed to have seriti, (plural diriti, also referred to as sehihi) which may be roughly translated as personality or shadow. This is described as light when it is weak, and dark when it is strong. It can derive darkness and strength either from good or evil. When a child is born, its seriti is light and needs to be strengthened, it becomes stronger through the influence of other darker diriti. In this context it can be understood why young babies are secluded especially from people in certain conditions. If a child's seriti remains light, it will be unable to withstand misfortune, alternatively it may become strong through being exposed to the influence of evil diriti and grow up to become a threat to  the whole society. Within this context it can be understood why much of the concern  of Tswana medicine is to strengthen the seriti. Traditionally the head of the household would annually strengthen the diriti of the members of his household to protect them  from misfortune.

A person with a healthy seriti shows this outwardly by being dignified, well-mannered, prosperous and successful in his enterprises. An evil, heavy seriti is believed to cause people around it to be irritable and weak. As will be seen below, traditional practitioners' methods are  often aimed at strengthening the light seriti of a person, that has caused him to be prone to sickness, bad luck and all types of misfortune. Thus a main function of traditional medicine is to strengthen the seriti.

It should also be noted that an individual's seriti extends beyond the individual (e.g. in the case of the head of the household  it includes the members of the household, his livestock, his possessions and the yard itself, therefore if he does wrong his children, stock or crops could suffer from the reflected protective medicines of the person he has harmed.

An individual’s sputum and perspiration are filled with his seriti, as are his body hair and nails, therefore an article of an individual's clothing is sufficient for a traditional doctor to use in his absence, to divine the cause of his problems. Conversely these articles which his seriti is believed to permeate, can be used by sorcerers to weaken his seriti if they intend to harm him. Many of the traditional practices described below in connection with the life cycle and traditional agricultural year are aimed at strengthening the seriti at vulnerable life crises, hence making it less prone to supernatural attack.