Stories have been told about how people from various parts of the region used to frequent popular late traditional healer Sekuru Ndunge’s homestead in Chipinge for various consultations. It is said that people would come from as far as South Africa, Botswana and Zambia to visit the traditional healer.

The scenario at Sekuru Ndunge’s homestead reflected how people travel long distances to seek spiritual help from traditional healers.

It is a common trend among people who follow African traditional beliefs. For many years on African soil, traditional healers’ homesteads have been known to be busy meeting places.

However, the trends are shifting and evolving technology is bringing in a new phenomenon. The process of consulting traditional leaders has gone online.

The traditional leaders are supplementing their face-to-face consultations with online interactions. Personal sessions are also increasingly being augmented by telephonic and video consultations.

Many traditional healers are online and they say a spiritual connection has no boundaries.
In those early days knowing about a certain traditional healer was through recommendations from someone else and this has been replaced by online consultations where people can interact with traditional healers.

Sekuru Simba is one of the local traditional healers who operate using online platforms. He said using technology is possible in his trade because ancestral spirits are not confined to a place.

“It is a remote connection, it’s a spirit connection. The messages that come through are things that I would not have sat down and guessed. It is literally not me channelling those messages, I just pass the message that l would have received concerning that particular person,” said Sekuru Simba.

“I manifest people’s illnesses whether it is online or face to face. I connect with people’s ancestors. We are in an era where people are reconnecting with their cultural and religious beliefs.”

In an interview, founding president of Zimbabwe National Practitioners Association, an affiliate of Traditional Medical Practitioners Council, Friday Chisanyu said online sessions are helpful the most to the people more than to the Sangoma.

“Online consultations help those looking for help to easily locate the appropriate traditional healer for their particular problem. Traditional healers are now creating profiles online and they stipulate what they are good in solving, be it removing bad luck, marriage problems or witchcraft issues.

Chisanyu said digital world has helped the traditional healers to become more efficient.State media