North residents warned about bogus traditional healers
"It should also be noted though that our aim is not to besmirch loyal and credible healers but to protect the community from charlatans."
Riegat police have called on Soshanguve residents and visitors to the Mabopane station, especially senior citizens who have just received their pension pay-outs from their former employers, to be wary of traditional healers.
Captain Stephen Maluleka said although some senior citizens got “traditional assistance”, the consultation process often resulted in unsuspecting poor citizens getting conned out of their hard- earned life savings by these healers.
“It has come to our attention that some victims visit these dodgy and dingy shacks around the Mabopane station under the hypnosis that they will get-rich-quick or be exorcised of evil spells.
“As the police, we understand that traditional healing processes are often peculiar and very discreet in nature, but we would like to warn our community not to fall for healers that are too good to be true.”
Maluleka said they would like to reiterate that the community must refrain from dubious practices but instead resort to the old ways of consulting traditional healers who stay in their own houses and known by the community they live in.
“It should also be noted that our aim is not to besmirch loyal and credible healers but to protect the community from scammers.”
Tips to avoid being scammed by “healers”
1. Before committing to paying a large amount of money for consultation, compare with other healers.
2. Check the credentials of the healer. Healers have an association like SOAHA (South African Healers Association), make sure that healer is registered.
3. Verify the information from people who referred you to the healer before committing.
4. Check the history of the healer, how have they been helping people from that area.
5. Check with the local police station if there were no cases opened against the healer.
6. Listen to your gut-feel, if something is too good to be true, then there is something behind it.
7. Let your family know that you are consulting a healer and where because some are capable of chopping people’s body parts for muthi.
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