Traditional healers will have to be registered with a healers' council by May 1 or face a fine or imprisonment, according to the Traditional Health Practitioners' Act. But they are going to have a hard time complying - the council appears not to exist.The Times could not find its address, website, phone number or the names of those involved in it.The Department of Health has failed to respond to questions about the council's existence sent to it last week.Phepsile Maseko - head of the Traditional Healers' Organisation, which claims 69000 members - said the council was "not functional".She said registration with a council would give traditional healers, used by the majority of South Africans, "positive clout".Nurses, doctors, homeopaths and physiotherapists are all registered with their respective councils, to which unhappy patients can complain.A council would enforce accountability among healers because patients could lodge complaints about them that could be investigated, said Maseko."Once we are registered, we can demand that [our members' services] are covered by medical aids," Maseko said.She said representatives of the Traditional Healers' Organisation met the department' s director-general, Precious Matsoso, last month to complain about the delay in the introduction of registration.Matsoso later called a meeting at which healers registered their complaints.These included:"Lack of political will to implement laws and policies that support African traditional medicine";Lack of funding for research into the medicinal properties of plants, and into improved healing methods; andInadequate representation of traditional healers on government committees...