Health MEC Peggy Nkonyeni has warned traditional healers to safeguard their knowledge and not give their trade secrets to anyone who came along.
"We are selfish with this knowledge we were given by the ancestors and don't want it to be stolen by outside countries," Nkonyeni said on Thursday.
"We have to safeguard our knowledge and not reveal all our secrets, not to outsiders, the media or others who could distribute it without our permission."
She was speaking at the traditional health practitioners' graduation ceremony held at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where 250 people graduated in the allopathic (use of non-homeopathic remedies) and traditional health practitioners' collaboration on HIV prevention, Aids care and treatment project.
