I AM NOT A MONSTER: Snake sangoma speaks out against fear, prejudice

People often panic or cross the road to change routes when they see her coming down the street.

Some even claim to see a snake instead of a woman. But for 38-year-old Tshepiso Mack of Lotlhakane East, the fear and judgment are exhausting. Speaking to The Midweek Sun, Mack says she feels burdened by the way people react to her presence, saying it makes life difficult for her.

“Some run for their lives when they see me. It is painful. I am just a person like everyone else,” she adds. Her spiritual journey started when she was only nine years old. As a child, she could sense witches and acts of witchcraft, and would often dig up strange items believed to be used in witchcraft.

“Because I was young, a small ritual was performed to suppress the gift,” she recalled. But by the time she was in junior school, things spiralled out of control.

“My clothes started burning inside my suitcase without damaging the bag. One day, I opened it and found everything burnt to ashes, school uniform and everything, yet nothing else in the house had burned.” After that, her family decided it was best she left school. One morning, she drifted from home all the way to Molepolole, guided only by a recurring dream. That was the day her training as a Sangoma began. She says the path has not been easy.

“I have had to drink blood of animals, goat and cattle, as part of the process,” Mack reveals.

Since she started practicing in 2010, she says people have treated her with fear and suspicion. Some say they see a giant water snake when they look at her. “But I am not a snake. I am not a monster.

I am just someone with a spiritual gift,” she said. She explained that there are different kinds of traditional healers. Some use divining bones (ditaola), while others use the Bible. Her practice combines both.

“When I enter rivers, where people believe there are huge snakes, the snakes move out of the way so I can perform my work. I think people just imagine things when they say I turn into a snake. I have trained through the spirit of the water snake (sedimo sa noga ya metsi),” she said. Her gift runs in the family. Her grandmother was a powerful healer who once disappeared into a river after being taken by a giant snake.

When she returned days later, she brought with her all the items used by traditional healers, without having been trained by anyone. Mack says she was once married, but the marriage did not last. She believes the ancestors want her to remain single in order to fully focus on her work. Today, her clients come from as far as Orapa, Jwaneng, Letlhakane, Maun, and others. She helps with various issues of infertility, relationship problems, diabetes, high blood pressure, court cases, supernatural disturbances, sexual problems, and job promotions. She also works with football teams, offering traditional support to help them win. “I am human. The snake people talk about is something spiritual. It is not me. I do not turn myself into anything,” she insists. Because of the constant judgments, Mack avoids visiting people. “My relatives come to see me. And my customers still come in large numbers,” she said.