Healers want law scrapped

14 April 2016 - 02:47 By Katharine Child

The Traditional Healers Organisation is calling for the scrapping of the draft Traditional Healers Practitioners Act, which aims to regulate the industry. Phephsile Maseko, the organisation's national co-ordinator, said it has consulted 72000 members, who found the proposed regulations unacceptable.The draft law aims to regulate the industry so patients can complain about poor or dangerous service and to ensure that traditional surgeons have a certain level of training.Maseko said the association was not against the principle of regulation because "there are so many charlatans taking advantage of people". But the regulation gazetted last November does not properly define who qualifies as a healer. It uses incorrect English to describe initiates and teachers, revealing a lack of understanding of healers, she said. ..

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