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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

2015 First-years: this is how Kovsies will welcome you
2014-11-20

The UFS can hardly wait to welcome you into our family! Wondering about when, where and how? Read on and find out all you need to know... 

The official welcoming of the 2015 first-years will take place on Friday 16 January 2015 at 18:00 in front of the Main Building on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The welcoming of 2015 first-years by the various faculties will take place from 09:00 on Saturday 17 January 2015 at the different faculties.

•    Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences in the EMS Auditorium
•    Faculty of Education in the New Education Building
•    Faculty of Health Sciences in the Kovsie Church
•    Faculty of the Humanities in the Odeion
     Session 1 - 09:00 ; Session 2 - 11:00
•    Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences in the Wynand Mouton theatre
•    Biological groups in the Wynand Mouton theatre
•    Agricultural programmes in the Agriculture Building, LG 1, 2 en 3
•    Consumer Sciences in the Agriculture Building, LG 4
•    Physics and Chemistry in the Chemistry Building, CEM 108
•    Information Technology in WWG 114
•    Mathematics and Applied Mathematics in WWG 226
•    Mathematical Statistics and Actuarial Sciences in the West Block, W111
•    Geography in GEO 1,5
•    Geology in the Main Lecture Hall 1
•    Architecture in the Architecture Building
•    Faculty of Law in the CR Swart Auditorium
•    Faculty of Theology in the H van der Merwe Scholtz Hall 10 (HMS 10)

An information centre will be available at the parking area in front of the Red Square.

Also, the Campus Ministries Forum will be welcoming first-years during an inter denominational church service on Sunday 18 January 2015 from 09:00-11:00 at the Kovsie Church. Everyone is welcome to attend this.  
 
2 February 2015:  lectures start

More information for 2015 first-year students

 

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