Penny Lebyane dishes the deets on her new show 'Sangoma Khanyisa'

Media personality and broadcaster Penny Lebyane has done a lot of work around mental health and when the opportunity presented itself for her to do something that aligned to her cause she grabbed it with both hands. 

Penny is set to host a new show called Sangoma Khanyisa with Mkhulu Ramets, set to premier on DStv's Honey channel on May 5.

Viewers of the show will get to witness people go on a spiritual healing journey and seek answers to their problems with the help of a traditional healer.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE, Penny said she has been on her own journey. In her own work as an advocate of mental health she had concluded that there is a parallel between the two worlds and healing is not necessarily one-dimensional.

“In the last two to three years I've been trying to connect with why we've seen a trend of young people becoming traditional healers. It's been going on for a while and in the last two years with Covid-19 it has just thrown issues into the fore of mental health. We had to draw, as different people of different parts of the world, on our own understanding of healing.

“I said yes to the show because it spoke to all those issues about how people understand. I said yes because I was on the lookout for it, because I was trying to understand what was going on,” she said.

Penny recounted a conversation she had about tapping into both worlds to find healing.

“I did an interview with a SA psychologist. I think they issued a statement where they said they are going to find a way to work with traditional healers because the issues we are facing as a country are that a lot of people might have a calling. They come to psychologists and then to Sangomas and it's like how do you bridge the gap and collaborate?”

The seasoned broadcaster said her mental health and wellness advocacy began 16 years ago and she would witness a lot of moments where mental illness was confused with witchcraft.

“Right in the middle of psychology meeting African spirituality is where lies a lot of  answers for us as Africans, especially when it comes to addressing our trauma. I believe in finding  all aspects and answers to help people get healing, but most importantly the trauma of Africans.” 

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