The road to the professionalisation of traditional health practice has not been an easy one.
Prof. Hlati together with Luthpa and other key role players in the sector reached out to western medicinal practitioners to complement the healing work. This is against the background of shared and mutual areas of work in as far as patients and clients’ preferences are concerned.
Medicinal plants that are critical to the healing of nations for centuries will be sustained through the MEDU initiative for the benefit of the traditional practice sector.
In the entirety of traditional health practice there has been a lots of issues that clouded the sector itself. These issues, which are difficult for a person with either the Christian or Western approach to comprehend. To date, it is difficult to subject the practice to scientific principles. However, this does not suggest non - existence of the practice.
Appeasing of ancestors for wisdom and healing are the fundamental values of Prof. Hlati's practice.
It is unfortunate that lack of understanding of the practice is simply dismissed as superstition. What compounds the problem is that endless negatives are labeled against the practice. Prof. Halti has been amongst the pioneers of the campaign to clear these negatives perceptions with progressive initiatives like the Ritual Killings Campaign.
Prof. Hlati remains committed to saving the earth from losing its bio-diversity to careless handling of the mutual relationship between mother earth and practitioners. South Africa is blessed with a rich plant biodiversity of more than 24 000 indigenous plants, representing about 10% of all higher plants on Earth. The country also has a long tradition of medicinal use of plants. It is estimated that at least 70% of all South Africans consult one of the more than 200 000 Traditional Healers in the country.
"Without giving back to mother earth what she has given us traditional health practice will be pointed at as a culprit when consequences of climate change will be upon us" said Prof. Hlati during a lecture at University of Venda.
Prof. Hlati together with traditional health practitioners during the Limpopo Traditional Health Practitioners Consulative Conference in 2010.
