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04 July 2022 | Story Edzani Nephalela | Photo Edzani Nephalela
Faculty of Theology and Religion
From left to right: Dr Joel Mokhoathi, Ronel Ellis, Dr Nomfundo Mlisa, Prof Pieter Vester and Rev Jacob Makhutso

Growing up, many of us were raised in Christian homes practising specific morals and values, and anything outside of that was considered immoral or even ‘demonic’. However, what happens when you have a dual identity, and you embrace a bit of both?

On 29 June 2022, the University of the Free State Faculty of Theology presented a Table Talk Webinar with Dr Nomfundo Mlisa, titled ‘African Christianity: interconnections between religion, culture, and identity’. These webinars cover a variety of burning topics that deal with contentious issues across the country. Attendees emerged from various parts of the world, including Nigeria and Germany.

Dr Mlisa is a published author, qualified nurse, traditional healer, as well as preacher of the Word. Her talk was based on personal experiences of being Xhosa and being brought up as a member of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in a strict Christian environment. She was on her journey to becoming a preacher when she realised that she needed to undergo the spiritual healing training (ukhuthwasa) and was faced with resistance from the church minister/s, forcing her to leave church because ukuthwasa was against the church policies.

Her journey has been challenging, because she only acknowledged her ancestral calling at the age of 42, following a series of occurrences that nearly cost her her children. Dr Mlisa hinted that, besides being against church policy, one of the reasons was that the Xhosa nation considered ukhuthwasa to be witchcraft due to the similarity in the pronunciation of words: ukhuthwasa, meaning undergoing spiritual training; ukuthwala, which is an ancient activity of gaining powers for wealth; and ukhuthakatha, meaning witchcraft.

“Rev Mabusela of the Methodist Church invited me back to the church and I was ordained as a reverend. However, my ordination was held at the East London Correctional Services, and it was then that I realised I was a prisoner of faith and tradition,” she said.

Is there a link between ukuthwasa and Christianity?

Besides the fact that philosophy could not prove the linkage, Dr Mlisa said that the link exists, but Christianity has strongly influenced Africans to integrate Christian values into their cultural value systems, as evidenced by various authors. This led to various people with spiritual calling disowning their cultural identities as well as their being.

“In Christianity, there are faith healers and prophets, whereas culturally, we have traditional healers; however, they have one objective, which is to heal the people. But because people wanted to accommodate their gifts in Christianity, such names were given. Furthermore, Christians recognise angels, while traditionally, ancestors are recognised,” she explained.

Looking into different practices in both the Traditional and Christian religions, they both have elements of training, ‘ukhuthwasa’. This is mainly because they all undergo different types of training under a senior person. A senior faith healer trains a junior, whereas a ‘gobela’ trains a traditional healer.

The society is also coming to accept all religions, with most people now wearing traditional healer beads everywhere, including work. There are also traditional healers who are modern doctors, demonstrating that these innate or hereditary abilities are a common language.

News Archive

UFS’s Vishuis best residence rugby team in the country
2010-03-30

 
Steinhoff Vishuis, the Steinhoff Koshuis Rugby Champions for 2010.
Photo: Varsity Cup
 
Beyers Louw (with ball), left wing from Vishuis, is taken down in the finals of the Steinhoff Koshuis League agaisnt Dagbreek from Stellenbosch. Left are team mates Gerhard Meyer (No 8) and on the right is captain Jos de Klerk (flanker).
Photo: Varsity Cup

 
Boom Prinsloo from Shimlas.
Photo: Varsity Cup

 

On Monday, 29 March 2010, the University of the Free State’s (UFS) residence team in the Steinhoff Koshuis League, Steinhoff Vishuis, showed that they were the best university residence team in the country when they were crowned as the Steinhoff Koshuis Rugby Champions. Steinhoff Vishuis triumphed with 22-7 over the University of Stellenbosch’s Dagbreek. This match took place on the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.

The hero of the match was left wing Beyers Louw, who scored two of his team's tries and kicked two conversions as well as a penalty. That left him with 97 points, the player who scored the most points in the tournament.

Shimlas’s Boom Prinsloo was also named player of the Varsity Cup. In three of Shimlas’s eight matches he was named player of the match. With the seven tries that Boom scored during the tournament, he and Lola Waka from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) were also jointly named as the top scorers in the tournament.

This is the second consecutive year that a Kovsie team wins the residence competition of the Varsity Cup. Last year Armentum carried the crown as the best residence rugby team in the country.

Well done. The UFS is proud of you!

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