Traditional doctors must be smiling all the way to the bank from clubs that have made the use of muti their new hobby.
The path to traditional doctors, who are believed to wield immeasurable powers in determining the outcome of 22 men chasing a pig skin, is well trodden. Imagine clubs that are struggling to pay players but have a full budget for a traditional doctor. Is this expenditure captured in the statement of account, or the traditional doctor receives under the table payment? How does this work out? Who gets paid first, the players or the traditional doctor? And are there no chances that the clubs are consulting the same traditional doctors? In that case, which muti overpowers the other, if indeed this works? Now clubs are more obsessed with planting muti on the goalposts at the expense of blood and sweat to win games. So does it mean the traditional doctor is so powerful such that a team can neglect training and put all faith in the muti magic.
Will the Botswana Football League (BFL) come down hard on errant clubs that continue to disregard a 2024 Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) directive banning muti rituals? There was an argument that if teams are allowed to pray before matches, they should then be allowed to practice other rituals, including the spraying of muti on the turf. But the use of muti appears to ignite tensions just before kick-off, as teams are engaged in turf wars. The 'spreading' of muti has become a source of consternation such that the BFL might be forced to step-in. Probably if it was done in a discreet or orderly manner, no one would care, but in recent instances, it has turned into an ugly brawl playing itself in the full public glare. In 2024, the BNSC indicated that the pre-match rituals were even damaging the turf and should be stopped forthwith. But the appetite for muti seems overwhelming as clubs continue to order bags and bags of the sort-after substance.
While club officials expend a lot of energy fighting for the best spot to place their muti, the jury is still not out on the efficacy of the traditional stuff. Reports in South Africa early this year were that glamour club, Kaizer Chiefs wanted to abandon the pre-match custom after seeing no tangible improvement in their performances. But whichever way it appears local traditional doctors will continue to smile all the way to the bank as, with or without positive results, clubs have firm faith in the practice.
