While the images of the blatant savagery that went down in Liberia are enough to make strong men loose their lunch, one should not forget that South Africa has it’s own Little Shop of Horrors to be found in the dark and creepy digs of the local sangomas.

Lizard and snake skins, birds beaks, horns, vervet monkey hides with the mummified hands and feet still attached, strips of different dried animal hides, tails of wild cats, buck legs with hooves still attached, all this dangling from racks hanging from the ceiling. Rows of sculls and bones, tortoise shells, dried caterpillars and a myriad of strange things in bottols of liquid, all sorts of bark and leaves and other organic material, jars and jars of brightly coloured powders line the shelves along with products like Zambuck and Cool Look.

But all that is just the (dare one say harmless?) off the shelf treatments and cures. The real serious and powerful muti…that which is used for such fantastic feats as stopping enemy bullets, to become invisible, make one irrisistable to the opposite sex or attract wealth etc, require the knowledge and skill passed down via the ancestors to much more heavy weight sangomas. It can sort of be compared to seeing a specialist, instead of a normal GP, as special magic needs special magicians to be consulted, not just some herbalist.

A good and respected Tsotsi gang has their own Sangoma who acts as a great organizational motivator.The Sangomas are powerful, respected and busy guys, so they have a high turnover on their muti stock! Thus they have to continuously produce new muti. Same logistical principle as in any business A ‘patient’ will need to come back with lots of cash, because ingredients for these closely guarded secret potions of African joo joo are specific and need to be freshly harvested in a special way… and here their Tsotsi underlings bring in their kill once in a while. The human organs are powerful muti!

This man was found with his testicles and one arm missing. The body parts were harvested while he was alive.