Scholars of religion in Southern Africa have long recognised the centrality of divine healing in the ministry of African Independent Churches (AICs). This practice is especially prevalent in South African Zionist Churches, which claim the lion’s share of AIC membership, and attract roughly a third of the African population as active members. Much of the appeal in Zionist healing lies in its holistic approach, in which careful restoration of the social equilibrium is paramount. Zionist prophet-healers are key figures in this regard, administering healing to the sick through ritual procedures involving prayer, divination, possession by the Holy Spirit and purificatory baptism.
In the context of a maturing HIV/AIDS epidemic, where universal anti-retroviral treatment for the estimated 5 million South Africans living with AIDS remains a long way off, those seeking relief from illness and suffering are likely to pursue a variety of ‘alternative’ treatment options. Zionist healing practices offer one such possibility, but the extent to which they are being utilised by people living with HIV/AIDS and the manner in which their practitioners are conceptualising the virus and its effects, remain under-researched questions. This paper draws on data collected during 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2000 and 2004 in a Catholic mission village in southern KwaZulu-Natal – a region where antenatal HIV prevalence is estimated at 37%, where public health care facilities are substantially overstretched and anti-retroviral treatment accessible only to the very few. Perhaps not surprisingly, divine healing of the sort offered in local Zionist compounds is increasingly in demand. This paper presents case studies of patients currently residing at these compounds, and examines how prophet-healers are interpreting AIDS-related illnesses in accordance with existing Zionist theories of disease-causation. It details the performance of healing rituals and explores how participants assess the ‘efficacy’ of this treatment. Finally, the paper considers how the Zionist worldview – in which illness is traced to disharmonious relationships with kin and the ancestors – is intersecting with mainstream public health messages about HIV transmission, treatment and care.