Some traditional medicine practitioners in Limpopo have expressed concern over what they call rapid extinction of some trees crucial to their practice. They believe that climate change and new weather patterns across the globe are taking their toll on the ecosystem.
For many people living in under-developed communities, traditional medicine is often a major health service meeting their primary health care needs. This is especially the case in remote and rural areas that lack access to formalised heath care system.
Katlego Molepo from Zebediela near Polokwane has been a traditional medical practitioner for 26 years. With his wealth of knowledge in traditional medicine, he attracts patients from near and far.
However, with constant drought and floods in the province, Molepo says some of the plant species essential in his practice have been disappearing.
“There is a lot of problems because of the climate changes. We are facing serious problems because of the diapers. They are giving us a lot of problems because they are killing our medicine, we don’t have anything now to plough or to get from the forest.”
Molepo says some traditional remedies for severe ailments such as high blood pressure and infertility have been coming in short supply.
“There is a medicine that we call Morokolopudi. Morokolopudi is a medicine which is a medicine that we use to treat tonsils and then to purify blood and also to make a remedy for the ladies so that they can conceive. And also we don’t have another one called Ponyokga.”
Rising temperatures
Environmentalist, Moudy Mudzielwana says rising temperatures and insufficient rainfalls can lead to reduction in soil productivity. He has praised the country’s climate change bill as instrumental in preserving biodiversity.
The bill, passed on the 23rd of September 2023, aims, amongst other things, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Mudzielwana says the bill is necessary to protect the environment.
“As environmentalists we appreciate the climate change bill for our country. Currently there has been a lot of damage that is caused by climate change especially with our biodiversity. Most of the traditional healers are no longer getting the trees that they normally would use just because the rain patterns have changed.”
Some areas in Limpopo have already experienced damaging thunderstorms this year.
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