ON Sunday, 8 October, residents of Zonke Izizwe in Ekurhuleni hosted a cleansing ceremony to bring peace and good luck to their kasi.
The chairman of Izinduna in Zonke Izizwe, Mjabulelwa Dlamini, said the residents believed that the spirits of the people who died during the political violence that happened in the 1990s still haunt the community.
The residents believe the spirits still linger and lead people to kill each other.
Mjabulelwa explained that people lost their lives while they were still armed which caused chaos in the community.
Mjabulelwa and Amabutho visited the place near the railway lines in Zonke Izizwe where many died, and they collected their spirits.
He said: "In our culture, we believe this cleansing is aimed at asking those who died to lower down their weapons and to ask for them to let it go.
"We also did rituals where we spoke to the fallen people and informed them about our request."
Mjabulelwa said residents donated R20 per household to assist in organising the event.
He said a cow and a goat were slaughtered for the event.
Michael Ndlovu, the treasurer of Zonke Izizwe Tribal Authority, highlighted the problems affecting the community.
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He said many people were involved in drugs, and alcohol and some even dropped out of school. He said they were also concerned about the high rate of gender-based violence in the area.
Michael said the area was facing a dark cloud and a traditional healer in the area told them that he had a prophecy that a cleansing needed to be done.
"We consulted with traditional healers and the residents were also informed.
"We couldn't ignore the prophecy because he had seen people dying and the rate of unemployment was high in the area,"
Concerned resident Zakhele Hlophe said the political violence in Zonke Izizwe affected many people.
He said many children lost their loved ones and their parents.
"We know the pain is still there for many victims. We hope that what happened won't happen again. We asked for peace and light in the area for a better life for everyone," he said.
He said at times, the residents feel that the political violence caused a lot of bad luck for them.
"We've seen many townships being developed and malls being built but here in Zonke Izizwe, there's no development.
"We think we're cursed, and we believe the cleansing of the land will make our lives better," said Zakhele.
