The practice of witchcraft is illegal and can have the one using charms to harm others cooling his or her sorcery heels in jail for 10 years. Even falsely accusing another of witchery attracts a Sh500,000 fine if found guilty or cooling government porridge in the slammer for five years. Read more here
The Higher Education Transformation Network (HETN), acting on behalf of its alumni membership, hereby condemns the continued irresponsible journalism practices perpetrated by the Daily Sun, a publication within the Media 24 Naspers Group. It is the opinion of the Network that the Daily Sun’s irresponsible reporting propagates barbaric conduct amongst poor communities and propagates continued superstition and witchcraft beliefs by poor communities against women, the elderly, violence against African immigrants, animal cruelty whilst legitimizing mob justice and preying on impoverished communities’ frustrations and fears. Read more here
Noaz Deshe, the son of Israeli producer Avraham Deshe, musician and visual artist, went to Dar Es Salaam in 2010 to teach a short filmmaking class. While there he learned of the shocking underground trade in albino body parts, which witch doctors promote as having healing capabilities. With poverty rampant, albinos living in certain areas go through life with a bullseye on their back, never sure when they will be captured and killed. This article is a review of Deshe’s first film “White Shadow”, which follows the life of a young albino. Read more here
South Africa’s president Jacob Zuma has told how he used to practise witchcraft against white people. Speaking in his native Zulu language at a pre-election rally in the country’s rural north, he told a crowd of his voodoo past. ‘I used to practise witchcraft around here, bewitching the Boers during apartheid’, Zuma reportedly said. Read more here
The homes of two families were set alight by an angry mob, following the disappearance of a five-year-old boy. This follows after a local sangoma allegedly identified the owners of the homes as suspects and some community members wanted to take the law into their own hands. Read more here
Channel 4 coverage of Ukpabio’s visit to London and WHRIN’s call for her to be deported. See here
Bhubaneswar: In a bid to protect women from being branded witch through the prevailing hunting and other similar practices, the Assembly today unanimously passed the Odisha Prevention of Witch-Hunting Bill, 2013 with provisions of imprisonment up to seven years and penalty for offenders. Read more here
The Nkwerre Vigilante Network this week arrested a six-man gang specialized in the sale of human parts for rituals and transplant in Nkwerre, Imo State. The men confessed to kidnapping their victims at various locations in the state and using their parts for ritual purposes. Some parts they sold to people who needed them for transplant. Read more here
