Reality TV star and racy dancer Zodwa Wabantu says she’s ready to embrace her spiritual calling.
Taking to Instagram this week the local entertainer shared a photo of herself in a river, dressed in ancestral attire while holding two horns in her hands.
The post got fans wondering whether Zodwa was undergoing a process of ukuthwasa (initiation), where someone who has the ubizo (calling) from their ancestors become an inyanga or a sangoma (healer).
In a conversation with IOL Entertainment, the “Zodwa Wabantu: Uncensored”, the star confirmed that she was embarking on a special spiritual journey but she was not a sangoma nor was she set to become one.
“I have recently accepted a calling but this is a different kind of ubizo (calling). I'm not a sangoma.
“I'm not going to an initiation school for sangomas. I am Inkosazana ya Manzi,” revealed the star.
Zodwa’s mentor and spiritual leader Dr Mhlaba of Kwa-Mhlaba Traditional Healers shed light on what it means to be an Inkosazana ya Manzi.
“There is this thing with us traditional healers, the people that God has given certain gifts ... that we want to initiate everybody and make them sangomas even when they have different gifts,” said Dr Mhlaba.
He revealed that Zodwa was born with this gift of success.
“So when a person dies and goes to the land of their ancestors, there is normally an animal that gets burned to deal with the spirits that they had.
“So we discovered that there was a famous person in Zodwa’s family who loved helping people and now their spirit lives within Zodwa– hence she can easily make friends anywhere and has the spirit of always assisting people, even strangers, and sharing with people even when she doesn't know what drives her to do so,” explained Dr Mhlaba.
“So there came a time that she had to acknowledge the ancestor that gave her this blessing.
“So with that blessing, you go somewhere and accept it. It's a clean, white spirit. It's a spirit from God and it stays in the water when that ancestor dies and looks after you.
"Zodwa had to go to the water to acknowledge the spirit and be cleansed so that it can live peacefully in her.
“So that when she continues with her journey of entertaining people she can do so knowing that it is not hers, there is an ancestor from God that chose her for this task.
“The guardian angel chose her because of her good heart and saw she can preserve this good spirit.
“This gift is Mndawu, it's what you come to earth with from birth. People with this gift or blessing have doors just opening up for them.
“Even when people try to bewitch them, nothing happens to them. They are just protected by their good guardian angel,” added Dr Mhlaba.
Asked if she would continue with entertaining people with her risqué dance moves, Zodwa said: “I told them (ancestors) that I love sex. And I won't stop having sex.
”Even if they take my Ben 10, they must know that I will find another one.
“I've even asked them not to take my money. Even if they instruct me to stop dancing naked, I'll obey but if they want me to continue making my fans happy so be it. But I've surrendered to the gift.
Zodwa says she will share her spiritual journey with her fans on the upcoming third season of her reality show “Zodwa Wabantu: Uncensored” on Moja Love (DStv channel 157).