Greed behind witch killings

2003-12-17 16:02

Sizwe samaYende

Polokwane - The biblical sins of jealousy and greed are at the root of South Africa's bloody witch killings, a comprehensive new international research report claims.

The findings effectively switch the burden of "evil" from the accused, who are invariably old or ugly women, to their youthful accusers.

The report, compiled by local and Dutch academics, also suggests that government could end witchhunts by tackling the grinding poverty that encourages superstition and desperation.

The academics conclude that people only accuse each other of witchcraft when they suffer envy, rivalry and hatred.

"If people have less cause to feel jealous of prosperous neighbours and guilty about poor relatives, there'll be less reason to resort to witchcraft accusations," explained project leader Professor Thias Kgatla of the University of the North.

Kgatla said if government met the basic needs of people, like food and shelter, and ensured a more equal distribution of wealth, there should be more contentment and less reason to be jealous of one's neighbours.

Witchcraft part of curriculum

Kgatla and a team from the Holland Institute of Social Studies and Utrecht University suggest that rural communities be made aware of the causes and prevention of illnesses and natural disasters such as lightning strikes so that they don't blame such incidents on witchcraft.

Kgatla said witchcraft could be raised as part of the school curriculum.

This way, witchcraft in Africa can be relegated to the "scrap-heap" of history as it was in Europe.

Parliament and provincial legislatures will be given copies of the report, while lawmakers will also be lobbied not to abolish the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957, which makes it a crime to label anyone a witch.

The report is not only limited to South Africa, however.

How to handle cases?

It found that in Cameroon, witchcraft is taken seriously as a crime with people being convicted of witchcraft, but judges are at a loss at how to handle the cases.

The Khoisan don't believe in witchcraft because they have no "notion of personal evil".

In the late 1990s, Limpopo was dubbed the "Witchcraft Zone" following a spate of witchcraft-related violence.

The Gender Commission conducted a series of awareness workshops after it appeared that two-thirds of people accused of witchcraft were women aged between 50 and 60 years.

Limpopo's Gender Commission co-ordinator Sipho Dikgale said the campaigns had helped, as witchcraft-related cases had dropped.

"I guess we have achieved our goals. I can't remember the last time I heard about such cases in the province," Dikgale said.

- African Eye