ARTIST Rethabile Khumalo found herself being dragged on social media over the weekend.
This after a sexy photo of her posing in a sangoma’s cloth was shared on social media.
Social media user Chris Excel captioned the photo: “Most of these kids really don’t have a calling yobungoma, they’re just suffering from depression and schizophrenia, life failure or heart breaks.
“They claim to have a calling only to bring their promiscuous behaviour to such a dignified profession.”
Other people also thought Rethabile was a sangoma, disrespecting the ancestors.
- Simz Zwane said she’s tired of seeing undignified pictures of sangoma attire. She believes most of those who wore such didn’t have the calling, but used it for fashion.
“We’re slowly losing our way and need serious education about our culture,” said Simz.
- Okuhle Molapo said it was disrespectful, whether it was a music video or photo shoot.
“It’s weird that everyone seems to be a sangoma, but taking such pics is really annoying. I’m slowly losing trust in sangomas because of such things,” said Okuhle.
- Nokzola Ntiba said this was why some ancestors didn’t help their families.“They don’t have a calling, they have mental issues they need to deal with.”
But Rethabile was furious and wanted to set the record straight.
She told Daily Sun she’s not a sangoma and the pictures were taken during a shoot at the SABC.
“I was shooting a video for SABC1 and 2 and was asked to be a gobela. I don’t understand why this is trending now because I posted it on 10 March.”
She said she was devastated as she’s just buried a loved one because of depression.
“Social media people don’t filter what they write and don’t care about people’s feelings. It’s funny how they preach about depression, while they’re part of the problem. I really hope they learn to open their minds and have compassion.”
Rethabile encouraged people to stop spreading fake news.
She said even though she’s not a sangoma, no one should be dragging her for this. “I’m really hurt and thought of shutting down all my social media platforms. I really hope they learn more about depression, because they don’t seem to know anything about it, as they’re causing more harm than good.”
