This sangoma is white

CALLING: TRADITIONAL HEALER DEFIES STEREOTYPES ABOUT PRACTICE

- Hein Kaiser

He has overcome his demons and expels those of others.

Everything about Fezile Pretorius flies in the face of conventional stereotypes. He’s a white sangoma and while it’s still relatively unusual, his hue has nothing to do with his convictions.

Khyle Pretorius, 36, said he had a calling. He answered it reluctantly and became Fezile. Loosely translated, his given tribal name means accomplishment and revolution. And Pretorius’ journey has been one of overcoming his own demons and expelling the burdens of others.

Eighteen years ago, Pretorius’ life pivoted. He was in a bad place, narcotics and troubles with the law saw a young, wild, and reckless man completely rudderless.

“I was in a bad state. I was addicted to drugs and not behaving properly,” he shared.

It was then that his family and a community of traditional healers intervened. They offered him a choice: to embrace his calling or continue down a destructive path. “They said, ‘You have a gift and it will continue to disturb you if you don’t deal with it.’”

This intervention of sorts led him to a small village where he underwent a rigorous training process to become a sangoma. It was 2008. “I’ve never looked back,” he said.

This was not the first time that traditional healing crossed Pretorius’ path. It was almost as if he had been singled out as a young lad already. As a young boy, he began having unsettling dreams.

They were vivid and not typical childhood nightmares; they involved strange encounters with underwater creatures and mystical beings, he said.