“We’re preparing a concise answer”: Botswana, Eswatini, South Africa Bishops to Issue 2027 Guide on Traditional Healing

By Silas Isenjia

Johannesburg, 19 May, 2026 / 8:17 pm (ACI Africa).

Catholic Bishops in Botswana, Eswatini, and South Africa have said that Catholics in the region can expect guidance on traditional healing practices, commonly referred to as “Ubungoma”, by January 2027 as they continue theological and pastoral discernment on the matter.

In a video update following the May Board Meeting of the members of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) at Khanya House in Pretoria, the SACBC First Vice President, Archbishop Zolile Peter Mpambani, said the Conference’s Theological Advisory Committee (TAC) is continuing work on a document intended to address questions many Catholics have raised about traditional healing and related African spiritual practices.

“The TAC today came to present their first presentation of what they are putting together,” Archbishop Mpambani said.

He added, “The committee has been given the duty of putting theological answers, pastoral points of view, and scriptural reflections to the questions being discussed as we prepare a concise answer to all Catholics who are waiting to hear what the Bishops are saying about ubungoma.”

According to the SACBC First Vice President, who is at the helm of South Africa’s of Bloemfontein Catholic Archdiocese, the process remains incomplete and requires further consultation and reflection.

“It’s not complete, though, because they are still going to complete another half. They have just done one quarter. We think that maybe by January we might have completed the whole thing,” he said.

In the video update, the Local Ordinary of Bloemfontein Archdiocese, who doubles as the Apostolic Administrator of South Africa’s Keimoes-Upington Diocese said the process has been complex because of the theological and pastoral questions involved.

“It’s not easy to work through, and we’ve been trying, because we need to discuss and look thoroughly at what we need to do,” the South African member of the  Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (S.C.I.) explained.

The SACBC has tasked TAC with assisting its members in developing theological, pastoral, and scriptural reflections on Ubungoma and related African traditional practices.

The debate over Ubungoma in Southern Africa centres on how Catholics should relate to traditional healing practices, ancestral customs, and spiritual traditions while remaining faithful to Catholic teaching.

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In parts of Southern Africa, “ubungoma” refers to traditional healing and spiritual practices associated with traditional healers or diviners, often known as “sangomas.” Some practices involve rituals, divination, spiritual diagnosis, communication with ancestors, herbal healing, and cultural ceremonies.

Catholic leaders in the three-nation Conference have sought to distinguish between cultural practices that may be compatible with Christianity and practices they consider inconsistent with Catholic doctrine.

In November 2025, Archbishop Siegried Mandla Jwara of South Africa’s Catholic Archdiocese of Durban clarified that the Catholic Church in the country is not opposed to African culture or traditional values.

The clarification followed the release of a pastoral statement by the Bishops of the Durban Ecclesiastical Province – comprising the Dioceses of Eshowe, Dundee, Kokstad, Mariannhill, Umtata, Umzimkulu, and the Vicariate Apostolic of Ingwavuma – directing Clergy and women and men Religious not to practise ubungoma while exercising ministry.

The statement generated discussion across the Church in Southern Africa over Clergy who combine traditional spiritual practices with Catholic ministry.

“We are very clear that we are not against African culture. In each culture, there is something good and also something that needs purification. We keep what is good,” Archbishop Jwara said in an interview published by the SACBC Communication Office on 9 November 2025.

He added, “Nothing has changed. We are just targeting priests who practise Ubungoma while ministering as Priests.”

The South African member of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) further explained, “We discussed the problem we have – some priests who are practising Ubungoma, believing in the ancestors. We issued a statement to say that they should desist from this because a Priest is only there in persona Christi. You can’t be a priest representing Christ and at the same time representing your ancestors.”

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.