The impact of African indigenous knowledge system on healthcare system in South Africa: The Covid-19 perspective

Abstract

The paper examines the contributions of African indigenous knowledge in the settling of disputes and advancing of justice, especially in the health sector during the Covid-19. It argues that for a long time, the western thought system has been placed over the African indigenous knowledge system in the administration of justice in many sectors in South Africa. The paper equally contends that the AIKs is still very relevant and useful in the delivering of justice in the 21st century. Debate and intellectual discussion on the issue of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ has favored the western thought system than the AIKs. The study sees this as a gap and attempts to bridge this gap by bringing to the fore the good qualities and potentials of the African indigenous knowledge system in the enforcement of justice in South Africa. It argues that if AIKs is given a free and fair hearing and trial, then it can adequately uphold the doctrine of the innocent until proven guilty. The paper utilizes the secondary method, sourced through document reviews and its results showed that the African indigenous knowledge system has been instrumental and effective in the fight against diseases such as the HIV/AIDs in South Africa. It concludes that the higher the utilization of the AIKs, the stronger, better, and sustainable the healthcare and socio-economic system of South Africa.

Keywords: Subordination, African, Indigenous, Covid 19, pandemic