Actress Baby Cele Maloka who plays the role of Gabisile Mdletshe on SABC 1 telenovela Uzalo has opened up on the struggles that come along with being a real-life sangoma.
Gabisile revealed that it was not her idea neither did she want to become a sangoma. She has also revealed that she tried everything possible to avoid her ancestral calling. However, she was eventually forced to accept the ancestor’s calling because she felt that this was the only way that she could save her family from being wiped out.
In an interview with City Press in 2004, Baby said her late mother, Bikiwe Shozi, was a traditional healer, and her grandfather was an inyanga. She said that she initially resisted the calling through prayers but later acquiesced in order to save her family from death and misfortune.
“It was not my choice to be a sangoma, but I decided to accept it in May [2004] following the mysterious deaths of my younger brother Thembinkosi and my sister Zodwa. The family and I tried everything, including prayers, to resist my ancestors’ call, because we felt it was going to disturb my acting career,” she is quoted as saying.
After accepting the ancestral gift, Baby now describes it as an amazing rollercoaster ride.
“Having this gift is a beautiful feeling, it’s just that sometimes it is so scary. Sometimes you foresee things and you can’t tell the people involved. Like if its something that’s bad, you’d foresee those things and keep them to yourself, which is not easy.”
It appears the actress is now at peace with her gift and even posts pictures on social media in which she is clad in traditional regalia associated with sangomas and traditional healers. Earlier this year, she posted a picture of herself wearing a traditional attire at Umsamo Institute, located in Albert Falls close to Pietermaritzburg and captioned it “My place of peace.”
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