Sitting on a sofa and speaking into his cellphone camera, Gogo Shumba walks me through each step: Take a 10 rand note (“green bill”) and a handful of salt. Soak them in water for three days. Then dry the notes and keep them in your wallet.
“Your money problems will be solved,” she concluded.
Shumba, 36, was speaking to viewers who tuned into a TikTok livestream to learn how to become rich. Sangoma He has been offering spiritual advice in the local dialect on TikTok for nearly two years and has around 31,000 followers on the Chinese social media platform.
“Zimbabwean traditional healers making people rich” has become a popular content category on TikTok, where Shumba is one of many sangomas who offer spiritual guidance and special prayers to followers. While such services have been part of Zimbabwean culture for centuries, TikTok has helped traditional healers find a global audience. Some of their most active followers are in other African countries, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom. Sangomas use TikTok to advise people how to get rich, and the platform has helped them improve their economic situations. But in their communities, sangomas on TikTok are often scorned and face opposition from their more orthodox peers.
“You can see this by looking at Pentecostal church leaders and their use of radio and television. We’ve seen people flocking to churches in search of wealth,” said Oswelde Ureke, a senior lecturer in television studies and digital media production at the University of Johannesburg. Rest of the World“There may be a connection between the difficulties they face in life and consulting a sangoma. But it could also just be for entertainment purposes.”
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The Southern African country is dealing with an economic crisis marked by hyperinflation, high unemployment and growing poverty.
Leslie Chihela, a 29-year-old hairdresser from Harare, started consulting sangomas on TikTok in 2020. She lost her livelihood during the pandemic lockdown and was unable to visit her regular prophet. She now follows a network of sangomas on TikTok and believes their counselling can help her overcome her financial difficulties.
“Right now I’m taking part in TikTok sessions because I really need money,” Chihera said. Rest of the World“God’s will and your Vadim [family spirits] “If allowed, with the help of the sangomas on TikTok, things can change for the better.” Following the advice of the sangomas, she has even thrown eggs and old currency notes in the middle of the road to ward off evil spirits.
For healers, TikTok has been an economic boon: Sangomas charge between $80 and $300 per consultation, depending on the service and the client’s location.
Tanya Chis became a traditional healer in 2018. Chis, now 21, struggled to find clients for the first few years and relied mostly on referrals. In October 2022, she joined TikTok to “learn more about spiritual things from other experienced healers,” she said. Rest of the WorldOver time, Chisoo himself gained a fanbase.
“Now I make over $1,500. [in a month],” she said. ““It can cost me $2,000 a month,” she said. Money and fertility are the most common topics she is asked about. Her income from TikTok has helped Chisoo achieve “financial freedom.” She is now saving up to buy a car.
Sekuru Kanengo, a Harare-based sangoma, has around 1,900 He has one of the most followers on TikTok, and according to an automated message from a WhatsApp number linked to his TikTok page, he charges $200 for consultations from local clients and $300 for consultations from overseas.
“Spirituality and technology don’t mix. They’re like oil and water.”
Earlier this year, Sekur Tasv, a traditional healer with about 430 followers on TikTok, made headlines after spending $30,000 on a lavish wedding. According to information on Tasv’s WhatsApp profile, he charges between $80 and $300 per consultation depending on the services offered.
But the Zimbabwe National Association of Traditional Healers does not recognise the work of sangomas who offer their services through TikTok, said spokesman Prince Mutandi. Rest of the World.
“Most of the sangomas on TikTok and social media are thieves disguised as traditional healers,” Mutandi said. “Spirituality and technology don’t mix. They’re like oil and water.”
“I think it’s important to be proactive and to be able to make the right decisions,” said Grace Mofela, a Harare-based entrepreneur who has consulted with sangomas on TikTok in the past. Rest of the World She thought she was a “fake.”
“After you approach them, all they ask for is money,” Mokhofela said. “In my case, a thief took my money… I didn’t have any money but a sangoma asked me to pay him $200 as a consultation fee.”
Chis denied the allegations, saying he and many others were simply “real” sangomas who were “used to using technology.”
“[Social media] “It provides a platform for expressing things that would normally be done offline and its affordances allow people from different walks of life to access the services of sangomas,” Ureke says, “whereas in the offline space, you would have had to travel far to consult a sangoma in person.”
