© 2023 Dr Margaret Sheppard

Formal Recognition

By the 1980s Traditional Doctors were still controlled by Bathoen 11’s “Melao ya Dingaka" of 1929. A Traditional Doctor is  not allowed to practise in Kanye unless he has been registered at the Chief's Kgotla.  For this registration he is tested by other traditional doctors. He may also be registered at the Ministry of Home Affairs in Gaborone. This is controlled by the Traditional Doctors' Association. On registration he is given a certificate to prove he is registered and licenced to practise.

Traditional doctors still occupy a very important position. For example each Kgotla is under a particular traditional doctor who may also have an assistant, and every new yard in that Kgotla must be doctored so that it is protected, by that one doctor or his assistant. This is called go thaya. This doctoring protects its owners and inhabitants from accidents, thefts, boloi etc. If any household suffers from these problems the traditional doctor in charge of the Kgotla will be consulted so that he may heal them. When a person wishes to build a new yard he takes earth from the site he has been allocated and the traditional doctor will throw the bones on behalf of that earth to see if that piece of land is satisfactory for that person. If it is, he will then go to the site and bury protective medicines near the future doorway or boundaries of the house to be built. (Doorways are always placed according to custom. - the entrance of each lolwapa faces the appropriate sub-kgotla, and doors are never opposite the lolwapa entrance.) These protections protect the whole yard and its occupants. If the doctor has found that the site is not all right, then it will be cleansed, or in extreme cases the owner may even have to build on another site.

All the yards in Kanye, Lands and Cattleposts belonging to one kgotla must all be doctored by the same official traditional doctor. The fee for straightforward doctoring before building a new yard is 5Ot-PI (25p-5Op), then if there are complications a person may have to pay as much as a cow for special cleansing.

It is from these fees that a traditional doctor makes his living. For a straightforward divination, the cost is about 5Ot-P1. Then people frequently give an extra lO-25t to the bones "to help them speak". These fees are always laid by the client on the bone bag and the traditional doctor gathers the money into the bag with the bones.

The fees for protection, cleansing, influencing events etc. are always “seen in the ditaola” (bones). To cleanse a person who has been bewitched not to obtain work, may be a goat, and to cure alcoholism (there is such a specialist in Kanye) is P6 or a goat, according to the difficulty of the case.

In cases of sickness or particular problems such as bringing luck, patients are free to go to a traditional doctor who is known to be particularly successful in that field. Many patients came from all over Botswana and Southern Africa to visit one of my informants. Another traditional doctor in Kanye is well-known throughout Southern Africa for his skill in thobega (treating fractures).

Doctors consulted like this can command very high fees. Patients, particularly those from outside Kanye, often come to stay at the doctor's home whilst they are undergoing treatment.