Reality TV star and popular DJ, Tumi Motsoeneng, famously known as Gogo Skhotheni, has formalised her departure from traditional healing practices by getting baptised on the morning of her 33rd birthday.
In an intimate ceremony held at a lodge near Johannesburg on Monday, May 5, the former sangoma marked her spiritual rebirth with a symbolic dip into the waters of faith — led by spiritual teacher John Kgabi, also known as Son John.
Mom, mentor there to give support
Present to give her support were her mother, Elizabeth Motsoeneng, and her mentor, Advocate Grace Dlamini. They witnessed the baptism and a Holy Communion ceremony later in the day.
Her partaking in Holy Communion — characterised by Christians “drinking the blood of Jesus and eating his flesh” — sealed her decision to renounce her former path and walk in the light of her new Christian faith.
Speaking to Sunday World after the ceremony, Tumi said the two ceremonies mark the two new chapters in her life. They mark her new life in Christ and a deliberate break from her past.
Redeemed, washed and cleaned
“I took Holy Communion as a symbol of the blood of Jesus today. And I am officially redeemed, washed and cleansed by Christ. I am no longer practising all the former activities. I am baptised and saved in Christ,” she said.
Her baptism comes exactly one month after she shocked followers on social media by announcing she was stepping away from her ancestral calling to embrace Christianity.
That decision was initially met with mixed reactions from fellow traditional healers and detractors. But now it finds its bold fulfilment in her full public conversion.
Lolo Morapeli, her brand architect, described the moment as a significant spiritual milestone.
Out with the old, in with the new
“Tumi took a bold and public step of faith by getting baptised and openly declaring Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. Her spiritual rebirth coincides with her May 4 birthday. This is symbolising a double celebration: the old has gone, the new has come,” said Morapeli.
She added that the ceremony marked a personal transformation and a public commitment to a higher calling.
“Tumi’s rebirth marks a pivotal turning point. Not just in her personal life, but in the hearts of many who have followed her journey.”
In Christian theology, the age of 33 holds deep spiritual weight. It is believed to be the age at which Jesus Christ was crucified. And it symbolises sacrifice, resurrection, and the completion of divine purpose.
For Tumi, it became the sacred marker of her own rebirth. Her career has long walked the tightrope between ancestral spirituality and pop culture.
Her most defining moment yet
Through her reality show Gogo Skhotheni on Moja Love, she gave viewers unfiltered access to her life as a sangoma. Her later shift into DJing and entrepreneurship kept her in the spotlight. But this baptism, many say, may be her most defining moment yet.
The ceremony, which took place quietly and without celebrity spectacle, ended with prayer and worship.
She enters her 33rd year no longer draped in traditional beads but preaching the gospel. Tumi is making it clear that she is off the sangoma market and fully reborn as a Christian woman.
