5.3 Demographic information
5.3.1 Tshelimnyama community members
This section presents the Tshelimnyama community participants’ demographic profile. It focuses on organisation of the traditional healers as well as their profile in terms of gender, age, race, level of education attained and income. These aspects are important in understanding natural resource harvesting practices and dependencies among the Tshelimnyama community.
5.3.1.1 Organisation of the traditional healers
Findings from focus group discussions with the Tshelimnyama traditional healers are required to organise into associations and register within their areas of residence. For instance, the Tshelimnyama traditional
healers register under Tshelimnyama community at a local level and fall under the Pinetown Association regionally. According to findings from a key informant interview with the leader of traditional healers, the Department of Health requires that traditional healers be registered with their regional association so that the practices of traditional healers can complement the practices of the Department of Health. This was highlighted in the following statement:
What happened is that Zweli Mkhize [Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Province until August 2013]
became involved with izangoma as a parliamentarian to bring traditional healers together with people like Manto Shabalala Msimang [former Health Minister] from the Department of Health to say let’s work together in fighting diseases such as TB [Tuberculosis] and HIV/AIDs [Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome] because it’s one thing that a person will take ARVS [antiretroviral] and on the other side isangoma will say that that person needs to phalaza [vomit] which removes the pills from the system of a sick person hence that person will not get better.
(Traditional healer leader 1)
By being a member of the Association, traditional healers are able to receive training on various issues some of which are highlighted in the following statement:
….in fact we have collaborated with the Department of Education that teaches izangoma to read and write. If isangoma sees that this person has TB or Jaundice for instance, and because they have been taught diseases symptoms, they will refer those people to the clinic.
(Traditional healer leader 1)
As indicated in the statement quoted previously, the Traditional Healers’ Association is an important platform for engaging traditional healers in various discourses such as health and literacy. The same platform has potential to be used in environmental discourses such as sustainable harvesting practices as well as in situ and ex situ conservation. It was through the Association, particularly the Pinetown Association, that part of this study was made possible. The Association controls information sharing, especially from their side, and therefore researchers are expected to get explicit permission (after a screening process) to interact with the traditional healers.
5.3.1.2 Gender
The Tshelimnyama community sample provided information to understand the processes of natural resource access and use in the GGEP open space. The gender composition of the sample is presented in Table 5.2.
Table 5.2: Gender composition of the Tshelimnyama sample participated in interviews and focus group discussions (n=39)
Tshelimnyama community sample composition
Gender composition
Male Female
Number % Number %
Traditional healers (izangoma) 2 6.2 30 93.8
*General community members 7 100 0 0.0
*Tshelimnyama community members not practicing traditional healing or any other form of healing relevant to this study
The majority of the traditional healers were female (93.8%) with only 6.2% male. However, the gender composition of the non-traditional healers was all male. Noteworthy is that the gender composition of the traditional healers is not reflective of the gender composition of the group within this community as the sample was selected conveniently, that is, only traditional healers who volunteered participated and in this case, the female gender was more responsive to the call for participation. However, an interview with one of the traditional healers’ leaders revealed that generally traditional healers (izangoma) are female while most males are izinyanga as captured in the following statement:
…there are few male izangoma, what happens is that most males are izinyanga. (Traditional healer leader 1)
The interview further revealed that the difference between izangoma (isangoma - singular) and izinyanga (inyanga - singular) is that izangoma are born with the ability to communicate with ancestors and thus can consult with ancestors on any misfortune such as illness. On the other hand, izinyanga are trained to know medicines for various ailments and thus are specialised in medicines. One of the key informants indicated that traditionally, people would consult with izangoma who would then be referred to izinyanga for medicines, but these roles have been blurred such that izangoma can consult and provide medicines.
However, izinyanga cannot consult or communicate with ancestors. These findings are supported by Devenish (2006), who further states that izangoma are diviners while izinyanga are herbalists. The participants of this study were all izangoma though not purposively selected.
5.3.1.3 Age
The age composition of the participants varied between 31 to 65 years with an average of 50 years. Figure 5.1 presents the age composition of the participants.
5.1
12.8 12.8
17.9
20.7
17.9
12.8
0 5 10 15 20 25
31 to 35 36 to 40 41 to 45 46 to 50 51 to 55 56 to 60 61 to 65
Percentage
Age categories (years)
Figure 5.1: Age composition of the Tshelimnyama community participants
A comparatively high percentage of the participants (20.7%) were in the age group 51 to 55 years followed by the age groups 56 to 60 and 46 to 50 years which made up 17.9% of the participants each.
Further, the age groups 36 to 40, 41 to 45 and 61 to 65 years all made up 12.8% of the participants each.
The lowest percentage of participants (5.1%) was in the age group 30 to 35years. These findings do not reflect age composition of the traditional healers in Tshelimnyama. As indicated previously, not all traditional healers are registered with the Pinetown organisation and additionally, participation was entirely voluntary.
5.3.1.4 Race
All the Tshelimnyama participants were Black. This is reflective of the race composition of the Tshelimnyama community inhabitants currently and historically. Findings obtained through interviews with traditional healers reveal that the Tshelimnyama traditional healers have lived in the community with their parents for many years. This finding is consistent with the Pinetown Museum records which indicate that Black communities have occupied Tshelimnyama since the pre-colonial period (Ross, 1995) while the eThekwini Municipality (1992:1) indicates that 69% of inhabitants of Tshelimnyama were born there.
5.3.1.5 Level of education
The levels of education attained by the Tshelimnyama community members are presented in Figure 5.2.
51.3 30.8
17.9
Not attended formal education
Primary
High school
Figure 5.2: Level of education attained
The majority of the participants (51.3%) did not have any formal education while 30.8% of the participants indicated that they attended primary education. The lowest percentage of participants (17.9%) completed high school education. Previously presented findings on organisation of the Tshelimnyama traditional healers highlight that literacy is a concern among Tshelimnyama traditional healers. These findings reflect more of the situation among Tshelimnyama traditional healers as highlighted in a previous quote stating that the Department of Education has collaborated with the Traditional Healers’ Association in teaching the members how to read and write. Education is important in comprehending and acting towards managing environmental problems (Shobeiri et al., 2006; Uzunbolyu et al., 2009; Chen et al., 2011). The lack thereof has implications for conservation efforts directed towards groups of people with little or no formal education.
5.3.1.6 Income
All the participants in the focus group discussions and interviews indicated that traditional healing was their main source of income. However, they could not provide an amount as to how much they make monthly because their income was based on whether they had or did not have patients during a month.
Sometimes you find that you don’t make any money in a month because there is no one coming for consultations…but other times you find one or more people come. So I can’t say how much money I get every month because it is not the same you see.
(Traditional healer 7)
Nevertheless, it was revealed that there are traditional healers who have formal jobs, but such traditional healers rarely or never attend the meetings as highlighted by one of the participants:
….some are working and you find that those who are working come to register and never really attend the meetings because when we are meeting they are at work.
(Traditional healer leader 1)
Since the findings highlight that there are traditional healers who are employed, the fact that the participants of this study were not employed and had no stable income is not reflective of the employment and income status of the traditional healers in Tshelimnyama. Considering that the traditional healers’
income was erratic, the researcher probed how they survived without reliable income. To this end, all the traditional healers (32) indicated that at least one member of their household was a recipient of a social grant or was employed.
I depend on my late son’s two children’s social grants and my other son also gives me a small amount of money on some month-ends. Apart from that I do not work; my ancestors have kept me away from working. The only way that I make financial gain for myself is through being isangoma.
I tried to get an elderly grant but they chased me away.
(Traditional healer 2)
Traditional healing activities are important for income generation for the participants. The income generated is used to meet the household needs and in times when income generated is inadequate to meet the needs, family members’ income sustain the households. This finding is supported by Statistics South Africa (2014) which asserts that social grants have become a major source of livelihood in South Africa.