An inyanga is a herbalist and healer of the Nguni peoples whose work centres on the knowledge and preparation of medicines drawn from plants and other natural materials.
The knowledge of muthi
The inyanga is the specialist in muthi, the medicines prepared from plants, roots, barks and other natural substances, and the office centres on the deep knowledge of these materials and their preparation and application for the treatment of illness, so the inyanga is closer to the herbalist and the physician than to the diviner. The training is a long apprenticeship in the identification, gathering and compounding of the medicines and in their use, and the standing rests on that acquired knowledge and skill.
Distinct from, and joined to, the diviner
The inyanga is commonly distinguished from the sangoma, the diviner who works through the ancestral spirits: the sangoma divines the cause of an affliction through the ancestors, while the inyanga treats it with medicines, so the one identifies and the other cures, though in practice the two roles frequently overlap and a single healer may hold both. The inyanga knowledge of the plant materials of the region is extensive and is a genuine body of traditional medicine, and the office remains widely relied upon in southern Africa alongside modern health care. The inyanga thus represents the herbal and medical side of Nguni traditional healing, the master of the medicines, whose authority rests on the knowledge of the natural remedies rather than on a calling by the spirits.