Activist against gender-based violence Tebogo Ditinti from Ga-Rankuwa, who went missing after speaking out on her experiences of physical and s.e.xual abuse during sangoma training, has been found.
A source close to the family confirmed to the Pretoria News that Ditinti had been found at about 1 am on Thursday by police and was recovering well in hospital.
A picture of the 35-year-old, wearing a black T-shirt and black pair of jeans, sitting with a drip on what seemed like a hospital bed, was circulating on social media yesterday.
According to her family, the woman had gone missing after going to answer a phone call outside her house in the evening last week.
Ditinti recently spoke out on the SABC’s investigative programme Special Assignment about the abuse she had suffered during her sangoma initiation and training.
She said she would go more than a week without food; she only drank water. Things had been so bad that she had ended up eating dog food.
She told of the physical abuse she had suffered at the hands of her female trainer.
Ditinti said she had been impregnated by a fellow trainee she had been paired with and been forced to attempt abortion three times, eventually succeeding at the fourth attempt. She said she did not remember giving consent to sex with the fellow trainee.
The family said that subsequent to the television programme, she had been receiving threats from anonymous people, including phone calls and attacks from social media.
In addition, cars would just park outside her home. After her disappearance, people took to social media to pray for her safe return under the #BringBackTebogo.
It has been claimed that she was found by Hebron police in Mabopane. However, the police said they knew nothing of Ditinti’s disappearance and return.
Her family previously said they had looked everywhere for her, including hospitals, with no success.
Traditional Healers Organisation national co-ordinator Phephsile Maseko said they encouraged trainees or sangomas to speak out about any form of abuse suffered during training. “We do encourage that they speak out and that they start within the sector so that we can look into those allegations.”
Maseko said the organisation had only learned about Dintiti’s story after it aired on TV. She said mechanisms existed to deal with abuse of any kind within the traditional healing and training sector.
The organisation would not tolerate the abuse of trainees, patients or other healers, she added.
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Source: iol
