Ancestral calls in the boardroom
Joburg is a world-class city in the way that it reconciles global modernity with deeply rooted indigenous spirituality, a dichotomy for professionals in corporate South Africa.
- Joburg displays its status as a world-class African city through its diversity and multiculturalism.
- Company policies are shifting to accommodate employees that need leave to undergo initiation.
- Corporate spaces embracing employees who are professionals and African spiritual healers.
Joburg is a city often judged by its robust GDP, financial technology adoption and its relentless, dynamic pace. However, what also defines the city of Joburg’s status as a world-class African city is its profound and often overlooked multiculturalism and diversity – one of these being how the corporate environment is opening itself up for the integration of modern careers with ancestral practices. This is where corporate employees are able to embrace their dual identities of being both professionals in the workplace, and called healers at the same time.
Work-wear meets ancestral-wear
“They call me Christmas tree”, says 32-year-old media engineer Mkhulu Mahlal’entabeni (his ancestral name that means “the one who stays on a mountain”), with a big laugh. His comment highlights the cultural and societal pressures he faced when he first appeared in the office wearing his African traditional accessories, a mix of coloured beads (ubuhlalo) – white, blue and red, around his neck and on his wrists, adorned with the same-coloured beads; on each wrist is the vivid sight of the off-white fur isiphandla (ceremonial wristband of a goat’s skin).
These are often the most visible signs of a profound duality, often resting around the subtle yet powerful fusion of corporate and astral uniforms. For many practitioners, traditional beads, bangles and even sacred ancestral cloths are not abandoned, they are carefully woven into the daily attire of the office, creating a new and authentic form of African corporate dress.
This deliberate visibility reached a world stage when Amanda Gcabashe, an accomplished executive with a background in accounting and auditing, delivered her TedTalk presentation at the TEDxJohannesburg stage, in Johannesburg. Gcabashe is an African Traditional Medicine Practitioner (isangoma/inyanga) and, as Chair at the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), is responsible for developing concepts and managing and implementing projects aimed at industrial development of the African Traditional Medicine (ATM) sector in South Africa.
For her TedTalk, Gcabashe was not dressed in a conventional power suit as often seen in such a global forum. Appearing from the shadows of backstage, Gcabashe walked on stage barefoot, but with a commanding and authoritative energy. She carried ithusi (a wooden staff) which she gently placed on a chair. The wooden staff (ithusi) is sometimes wrapped around with colourful beads. In a spiritual context, it is used for protection and believed to possess certain powers. Fully adorned in her African traditional healer’s attire, Gcabeshe used her visibility to embed ancestral wisdom directly into the modern conversation about her journey of this “parallel universe” as she calls it. Her presence affirmed that in Johannesburg, the traditional and the corporate are not just compatible but that they are a source of professional authority worth recognition and respect.
Sharp contrasts and conflicts
The tension between being a corporate professional and a traditional healer arise in the dismantling of the life that practitioners have built and are then forced to rebuild on two foundations. The integration of ancestral practices with modern careers, shows that traditions and ambition can coexist, sparking challenges to and questions about how success is defined or redefined.
Mkhulu Mahlal’entabeni, whose birthname is Keabetswe Kaka, is an initiated spiritual healer who is also a broadcast media technology engineer in one of the largest media companies in South Africa. He shares the journey of his spiritual awakening with both dismay and acceptance.
Kaka began his journey of ukuthwasa (initiation) after he had graduated from university and entered into the work space – which he left for a time, only for him to come back at a later stage. He remembers the early days of his awakening to his calling as having begun with dreams about snakes and, at times, seeing his grandmother who had passed on. He completed his initiation after 18 months of training and describes his journey as anything but easy.
“I am proud of my dual identity. Am I embracing it? Is it easy to handle and manage? Not at all. That is one thing I can definitely say I struggle with when it comes to my dual identity, this dichotomy”, says Kaka. “Everything you’ve ever known and ever understood, you now have to question”, he adds.
The initial attempt to reconcile these two demanding worlds is often defined by an exhausting, almost schizophrenic level of code-switching. Added to this is mastering the art of living in Johannesburg, navigating its fast pace and lack of natural environment which typically forms an integral part of a healer’s life and journey. It is an act of extreme mental and emotional endurance.
Zanele Zwane (36), whose ancestral name is Gogo Manziniwasentabeni (meaning one who heals through prayer and the use of water) is a practicing healer and a film and television professional. She fans herself with an ancestral cloth wrapped around her shoulders, and punctuates the conversation with soft burps [see info box above]. In the film and television industry, Zwane meets her difficulty of this duality with a sense of acceptance. “My understanding is that your ancestors never push you to a point where you literally cannot do both your professional and healing work,” she adds.
An awakening amid a scene on a shoot
Johannesburg’s global standing is predicated on its resilience and its complex cultural layering. The city’s inherent dynamism has created space for synthesis. This is a critical distinction as it shows not just tolerance but a sophisticated and working model of layered identity and diversity.
While Zwane and her production crew were shooting a scene in the bushes, African traditional props had to be used to recreate a real and natural-looking set – the crew brought in impepho, an African herb also known as sage, and a real goat’s head which had been purchased from a nearby butchery.
Once they put the goat’s head down, and lit up the impepho, that was it for Zwane. As the sacred smoke of impepho mingled with the sharp, metallic scent of blood from the goat’s severed head, a profound shift stirred within her. This potent scene, the goat’s head with its visceral residue and the smoke curling up in the air from the impepho creating a thick scent, translated into umgidi for her lineage. Umgidi a sacred observance performed for summoning the spirit of the elders to offer and share with one’s offering.
“That caused a ball of fire for me, because once you light up impepho, it summons the spirits” Zwane explains. “I fell down and the trance that takes over is as though you are out of your human body.”
Production had to pause. This resulted to extended shooting hours as the crew had to stop and check on her if she was ok, proceeding to give her time to recollect herself before continuing with production.
The complexity of the duality
Joburg has always been a space of high-density cultural exchange. The difference today is that this exchange is no longer confined to the townships or the informal sector, it has moved into the boardroom.
The traditional healer who is also an executive proves that African spirituality is not merely a relic to be studied, but a living knowledge system that is both relevant and powerful in navigating the pressures of the 21st century economy. The dual-identity individual is a highly sophisticated code-switcher.
At her TEDx Talks, TEDxJohannesburg, My Life as a Traditional Healer in the 21st Century, Gcabashe, describes her duality as a “parallel universe”.
This complexity is the key to African innovation. It signifies an intellectual and spiritual freedom that positions it as a genuine leader of Afro-modern thought. The quiet, almost subversive resilience of these dual-identity professionals provides the most compelling evidence for Johannesburg’s world-class status. They are the architects of a new authenticity, proving that a major global city can be powered by both algorithms and ancestry. The true architecture of Johannesburg is not its glass towers but its deep, layered character, revealed in the lives of those who sustain its dynamism through their authenticity.
Shifting company policies and the Traditional Health Professions Council
In South Africa, state-owned companies such as Transnet and local government structures like the City of Tshwane have implemented spiritual or initiation leave. This leave refers to extended absence by employees for the purpose of undergoing ukuthwasa. It falls under broader protections for cultural, religious, and traditional beliefs, as enshrined in Section 15 of the Constitution (freedom of religion, belief, and opinion) and the Employment Equity Act (EEA), which prohibits unfair discrimination based on culture or belief.
Merriam Leuuw, whose ancestral name is Mmamorena, a Masters student at Wits University, received support from her employer at the time when she was granted leave for those days that she went through her initiation.
“They were very accommodating, because the space I was in, in Free State, is more appreciative or understanding of people who are spiritually gifted”, says Leuuw, who was working for community radio station Motheo FM in the province at the time that she began her initiation.
In April 2025, the SABC reported that the City of Tshwane had adopted a policy granting its employees special leave for ukuthwasa. This move marked a shift toward recognising African spirituality in the workplace.
However, one of the primary challenges emerging in recognizing the needs for professionals with a spiritual calling is that ukuthwasa is an open-ended practice. This means that the initiation process is continuous and sometimes can extend over a longer period.
When Kaka went on his initiation journey, he did not want to disclose this at work as he did not want to complicate or ruin his job.
Kaka says, “I only opened up about me being in initiation when my job and initiation process was starting to conflict. I work in the technical space so we work shifts and odd hours at times. Instead of talking to HR, I went to my direct manager and explained what was going on with me. I never really got to involve HR, although my journey did impact my work performance and as we speak, I am going through work performance improvement,” adds Kaka. In a separate interview with the SABC, African Spiritual Advisor Siyabonga Mkhize of Umsamo Institute, noted that because of the open-endedness of the initiating process, perhaps companies need to draft policies that balance out the spiritual needs of the employees without compromising the operations of the employer. The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa (SEIFSA), a federation representing employers in the metal and engineering industries in South Africa, points out, for example, many organisations are still grappling with finding working solutions pertaining to extended leave days for initiation.
Traditional Health Professions Council
In January 2008, the South African government gazetted The Traditional Health Practitioners Act, 2007, to recognise traditional health practitioners and to regulate, train and legitimize their issuing of sick notes upon registering as professional healers.
A post on X (formerly known as Twitter) sparked an engagement on the social media platform when a user displayed bewilderment at the fact that employees are now able to submit sick notes from their traditional healers. One user dropped a bombshell into this conversation, giving an account of how an employee was fired for submitting such a note – and had gone on to win their case before the Commission for Conciliation and Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), proving its legal weight.
This online flurry mirrors Johannesburg’s own dance of duality, where corporate professionals and African traditional practitioners navigate a landscape that’s both perplexing and progressively inclusive. The city’s formal systems are bending to accommodate the African self. Such transitions and innovations further prove that Joburg is progressive in its multiculturalism, evidently putting it forward as a world-class African city, innovating amid its medley of challenges.
Featured Image: Skyscraper glass facade rise in Sandton, Joburg. Photo: Zanele S. Maduma
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