Somizi pleas with South Africans to not attack the elderly on witchcraft basis
Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung has brought attention to the association that is being made between elderly women and witchcraft.
Somizi took to social media two days ago to shed light on a topic that is quite often shied away from when it comes to communities. The video is from TikTok and shows a 'Gogo' walking on the road and supposedly practising witchcraft.
In his post, he speaks from the heart and it is clear that this topic is close to his heart. He pleads with his "African brothers and sisters..." to not assume that this kind of behaviour is indicative of witchcraft, but rather a sign of mental disorder. More specifically, he mentions dementia.
Somizi has taken a stance on this kind of behaviour and has chosen to use his voice and his platform to address this in our African communities. He urges people to not attack the elderly and rather offer them help.
As we move into a world where we use social media and music and the arts to express the unspoken truths of society, we have to commend him for shifting the spotlight on topics that many are ignorant about.
If we know better, we can hopefully do better.
The below is the shared video he posted to his Instagram page. It has received more than 300,000 views and it seems many people resonated with his words.
One person commented by saying: "True that 😔 I know so many gogos that are not well and this is so so sad 😞 and people think this is witchcraft but ke we have a long way to go."
Somizi has a big influence and a large audience on social media and by being able to speak about a 'taboo' topic, he is breaking the social norms and in the same breath enlightening people about what lies beneath our stereotypical understandings of things.
We can firmly say that we need more voices (influential or not) speaking about 'taboo' topics so that society can begin to change their ways of thinking and become more aware of things that were traditionally unknown to them.
Read more: Woman accused of witchcraft set on fire
According to TimeLIVE, "two men made a brief appearance in the Protea magistrate’s court in Soweto for the brutal murder of 59-year-old Jostina Sangweni in Mapetla, who they accused of witchcraft." It was later revealed by family members that she was indeed suffering from dementia.
May she rest in peace.
Image Courtesy of Instagram
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