Senzo Meyiwa’s family hold cleansing ceremony.

The family of slain soccer star, Senzo Meyiwa held a private cleansing ceremony at their home in Umlazi, KwaZulu-Natal, yesterday. It was a private affair for the immediate family members.

Only immediate family members were allowed to attend a cleansing ceremony of this nature as it was important to get rid of bad luck.

“There’s a belief that if they don’t do the ritual, every family member will die from a weapon by being stabbed or shot, like Senzo,” said Nobongile Kakayo a traditional healer in Umlazi.

The cleansing ceremony, which is conducted in accordance with Zulu culture.  The family must buy two sheep for the cleansing ceremony and the ritual must be held in the early hours of the morning. 

The sheep must be slaughtered outside the gate: one for the deceased’s wife – in this case, Senzo’s widow, Mandisa – and the second for the whole family. The family should not eat the meat. The gall bladder from the slaughtered sheep and waste material from its stomach is taken to and placed in the river where the ceremony is held. Everyone apart from the deceased’s wife is cleansed in this water. She is cleansed in different water.

Once the cleansing is done, the widow leaves her clothes on the river bank or burns them and wears new clothes bought by her husband’s family