If you know and love Somizi Mhlongo, you also can’t deny that he is very controversial. In fact, it’s probably why you came to know and love him in the first place. He has made headlines multiple times for different reasons. But there is no crowd that lands him in the headlines more than the Christian crowd.
Of course, it makes some sense that the two are regularly at odds, considering how open he is about his sexuality, and that he flouts all religious codes of conduct as far as his membership of the LGBTQ+ community is concerned. In fact, he was recently just blocked from going to Zimbabwe, where he was scheduled to be a guest chef at a restaurant reopening, by a church group in the country.
Now, Somizi has made some controversial statements that would have rubbed the church wrong. In a video he shared on Instagram, the actor was speaking at his food tour, called Eat Love Pray With Somizi. He said he regularly communes with ancestors. He explained that there is a difference between his worship of God and his acknowledgement of his ancestors, and defended that yes, the two are compatible.
He called out the common belief that ancestral veneration is inherently dark, and urged his listeners to remember our African roots and religious customs. He even drew parallels between the practice of traditional African religions and other world religions like Hinduism, that are less demonized.
Watching the video, one would have expected that he would receive a lot of backlash, particularly from the church, especially for suggesting that what he was preaching can still be compatible with the Christian religion. However, surprisingly, except for a few social media users in his comments section, his message was rather well received.
Fans have flooded his comments to applaud his suggestions. Many consider him brave for bringing up the alternative opinion, and others even agree that Africans should embrace their traditional beliefs and find a way to blend the lifestyle into their present religions.
Somizi has been making big moves in his career. His Eat Love Pray tour just had its first stop, and it was a huge success, graced by his loyal supporters, including singer Kelly Khumalo, with whom he is very close friends. He has a long, successful career ahead of him. He is also very influential, and it is great that he is using his influence to encourage alternative points of view from his fans and followers. He seems to have attained inner peace, which is all we really want.
