African witch-beliefs

by Feòrag

A couple of articles on witch-hunts in Africa have appeared recently. In an article for The Times of Zambia, Sydney Chisenga details a number of incidents before discussing the recent World Health Organisation report.

In North-Western Zambia's Kasempa district, a coffin (believe it or not) carried by six pall bearers magically U-turned and forced them to standstill in front of an old male villager who was accompanying the mourners to the burial site. This brought the mourners to a standstill and on instinct they picked up stones and pelted the 70-year-old man to death accusing him of having killed the deceased through black magic.

Violence: the Chilling Revelations—The Times of Zambia (via allAfrica.com), October 31st 2002.

BBC News has a rather grisly article by Daniel Dickenson on efforts to deal with 'witch' murders in Tanzania.

Mbula Habuka is a traditional healer. He sings songs aimed at chasing evil spirits away. He has never incited one of his clients to murder, but admits there are many traditional healers who have suggested murder as a remedy. He says that healers are playing on deeply held cultural beliefs in the power of witchcraft and the superstition that an illness is the result of a misdeed rather than a medical problem.

The phenomenon is not as old as you might think:

The murder of older people due to the belief in witchcraft is a relatively new development dating back just 30 years. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number of incidents has increased recently due to a worsening economic situation.

Tackling 'witch' murders in Tanzania—BBC News, October 29th 2002.

Tags: Tanzania, violence against women, witchcraft, Zambia