Daily Sun (July 7 2015) - THE SIGNS were all there for Siphiwo to become a sangoma.
But stubborn Siphiwo refused to heed the call from the ancestors.
AND ON SUNDAY, DRUNKEN SIPHIWO FELL INTO A DEEP, MUDDY TRENCH . . . AND DIED.
It is not clear whether he was killed and dumped in the trench or whether he slipped and fell, but his family is adamant. He died because he ignored the ancestors’ call.
The ancestors killed him for refusing to thwasa, they said as they looked at the body of Siphiwo Nelani (44), lying in a trench dug for a water pipe in Missionvale, Port Elizabeth on Monday morning.
His aunt told Daily Sun: “His grandmother is a sangoma and he also had a calling to be a sangoma.”
She said Siphiwo was haunted by ancestor dreams.
“He always dreamt of himself being a sangoma in the river, singing and dancing with other sangomas,” she said.
“He was showing signs that he must accept intwaso. We even told him he must accept it because many of our family are sangomas.”
According to residents, Siphiwo fell in the trench on Sunday night after drinking in a nearby tavern.
His aunt said they warned him the ancestors would be angry with him.
“He wouldn’t listen and continued drinking, trying to avoid the dreams and his calling,” she said.
“It was raining hard when cops removed his body. This is a clear symbol that the ancestors had called him.”
Lunga Mgoqo, foreman at Civils 2000 Construction, said: “We started to pump water out of the stormwater pipe at about 7.30am and at about 8.45am we saw something in the mud. We were shocked to see the body of a man.”
He said they called the cops and people came who told them it was Siphiwo in the trench.
After his body was removed the clouds cleared.
Some residents are more practical. They believe it didn’t have anything to with sangomas.
“It is because we don’t have street lamps,” said a 23-year-old resident.
“This is the third person to die in these trenches in the last year. The holes are too deep and drunken people can easily fall into them.”
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