LISTEN | Gogo Maweni of 'Izangoma Zodumo' on Jackie Phamotse's 'snakes for wealth' claims

Popular sangoma Makgotso “Gogo Maweni” Makopo of Mzansi Magic's reality show  Izangoma Zodumo fame has weighed in on claims made by author Jackie Phamotse that some celebrities get their fame and fortune from using "dark magic" involving snakes.

As somewhat of a controversial sangoma herself — described by the channel that airs the reality show as a “slay queen sangoma” — Gogo Maweni's fans have been looking forward to hearing her take on the claims that celebrities get their wealth with the help of "snakes and dark magic".

Jackie ignited the conversation when she took to her Instagram Stories with an explosive video in which she accused some famous faces in the entertainment industry of using “snakes” and “witchcraft” to achieve success.

The video went viral and started a raging debate on the subject.

Gogo Maweni opted to sit out the online conversation, but she shared her thoughts on the matter with TshisaLIVE.

Listen here:

“Yes, it's true there are people who do ukuthwala.”

“People do it for their own reasons and there are many ways to go about it. For instance, there are those who use snakes. Some use 'money rats', some use owls and others use tokoloshes (aka short boys). These things are true and they do happen.”

Having tuned into her reality show, Mzansi knows Gogo Maweni keeps snakes herself. The sangoma loves animals and has two pet snakes, Kaddafi and Zara.

While her snakes don't exactly match the ones described by Jackie as “useful” for accumulating wealth, some people online wondered about the “use” of Gogo Maweni's snakes.

She made it clear her snakes are just pets.

“There are people like me who are animal lovers. I just want them as pets. I am not doing anything (with these animals).”

Gogo Maweni said there were always rules applied to ukuthwala, and that doing it means one is forbidden from doing certain things.

In other news about her journey as a sangoma, Gogo Maweni recently celebrated her certificate from the Mhlabuhlangene Herbalist and School of African Medicine.

She said even though she had been praticising without the certificate, she felt the need to get a qualification so she can “uniform” her practice and show the world she takes her career seriously.

“I want to be recognised. I want to be uniformed because I want to see this first as a career, and second that it is accepted on a corporate level.”

She said she plans to back to school to get her diploma and study further to have all aspects of her practice recognised and certified.

The school certifies African doctors, pharmacists and people practising African medicine.