Street in Johannesburg

v/o:  Johannesburg, the biggest and most modern city in Africa. But as the continent charges towards the 21st century, there are still mysterious and ancient forces at work here. Meet Seth Saroka, a third generation traditional healer or sangoma. Seth has turned African medicine into a lucrative money spinner from the white community. It's all about protection. And this is arsenal of weapons of secret weapons to keep the thieves at bay.

Bottles and jars

Secretions from the lungs of a lion, and hyena fat, just to name a few.

Wilson with Seth

Wilson:  So how do these substances keep thieves away?

Seth:  This substance keeps thieves away because if you walk and you see a lion you run away.

I grind this raw material into powder. And this one...

Wilson:  Seth mixes his brews for more than 40 white clients, who call on his traditional medicines to allay their greatest fear - the fear of crime. It's a booming market with no shortage of potential customers.

Seth:  Maybe they need to come to us - to the healers and say, let's sit down and talk about this thing. Then we give them a guarantee. We sign a contract - and then we start to give them the protection.

Seth walking along street

Wilson:  Seth's work is a curious mix of centuries' old traditions and the ills of a modern society. Today's protection job, a nursery on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

Seth first met Linda De Luca 12 months ago, when he was called in to protect her fleet of utes. A disgruntled former employee was threatening to steal them and kill the drivers.

Linda:  Makes the staff happy. I think in this day and age, anything that will protect you is fine.

Linda

Super: 

LINDA DeLUCA

Nursery Owner

 But I wouldn't call on the sangoma to sort my problems out. I believe those I can do myself. And yet amongst the black population is a feeling that the sangoma can help them to sort their problems out.

Seth preparing ground

Wilson:  The first job is to stop the criminals from coming into the nursery.

Seth:  What I'm doing here is to protect this nursery for Linda, so that when the criminals come in they will feel inside their bodies that this nursery is not good -- it's dangerous.

Wilson:  After protecting the gates, a fire is lit to burn away any evil intentions that may be lurking. Now all of this is a bit of a concern in the neighbourhood, considering this is Christian fundamentalist territory.

Linda:  To them this is dabbling with the devil. I've had a lot of people put me down because I've tolerance about that. But I believe that, but then I believe you are Catholic you are also dabbling with the devil.  So what the hell.

Seth carrying bucket

Wilson:  Now this isn't just any old bucket of water, at about a hundred bucks a splash, this sort of traditional protection certainly doesn't come cheap, particularly if you're white.

Linda

Linda:  It burns, it burns. There's no question. But I must say they charge you much more if you are a business than if you are a private person. And I think there's a bit of discrimination there as well, about what colour you are.

Seth's office

Wilson:  Back at the office, there's a burning question of a rather more personal nature. Ephrahim Hlamini has, well, a rather nasty dose of the clap. A throw of the bones, and Seth sees all.

Seth:  Like if you know he do intercourse with his wife then you know he's very weak and you know a woman needs a strong man --  so if you're weak, obviously you can't perform whatever.

Seth and Wilson

Wilson:  Now call me a skeptic, but in the pursuit of journalistic truth, how could I possibly avoid throwing the bones.

Wilson:  What's my future? So, what have we got?

Seth:  You need to go back to your ancestors especially your grandmother becasuse she's crying. She says you do a lot of jobs, but you didn't report anything to her... so she's crying.

Wilson:  Now I swear, 24 hours earlier, my grandmother had rung. And you've got one guess what she was talking about.

Wilson:  Which bone told you that?

Seth:  The bone that tells me that your grandmother is crying is this one - this big shell here. And this one... these four basic bones, means you are not communicating with her, so she's crying.

Wilson:  I guess I'll just have to take it on faith that it was all in the bones. And sorry Nan, I promise I'll call. No, I'll write, every day.

Ends

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