Two men were given two-year prison sentences by a Zambian court for trying to assassinate President Hakainde Hichilema using witchcraft.
Following their arrest in December with charms, including a live chameleon, Mozambican Jasten Mabulesse Candunde and Zambian Leonard Phiri were found guilty under the Witchcraft Act.
In his decision, magistrate Fine Mayambu stated, “It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were enemies of all Zambians.”
Since this was the first time someone was tried for trying to use witchcraft against a president, the case has received a lot of attention in Zambia.
According to the prosecution, a former MP on the run recruited Phiri and Candunde to woo Hichilema.
The court convicted them guilty on two charges under the Witchcraft Act, notwithstanding their insistence that they were legitimate traditional healers.
“The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri further demonstrated that the chameleon’s tail, once pricked and used in the ritual, would cause death to occur within five days,” Magistrate Mayambu said.
According to Agrippa Malando, the two men’s attorney, his clients begged for compassion because they were first-time offenders.
He asked the court to impose a fine on them, but it denied his plea.
Magistrate Mayambu pointed out that despite the fact that witchcraft was not scientifically proven, many people in Zambia, as well as other African nations, believed in it.
According to him, the law was created to shield society from the harm and terror inflicted by those who claimed to be able to do acts of witchcraft.
“Whether or not the accused are wizards or truly have extraordinary abilities is not at issue. Magistrate Mayambu stated, “The question is whether they represented themselves as such, and the evidence unequivocally demonstrates that they did.
Apart from their two-year sentence for “professing” witchcraft, the guys also received a six-month prison sentence for having charms.
They will only serve two years in prison since the sentences will run concurrently, starting on the day of their arrest in December 2024.
Hichilema has stated in the past that he rejects witchcraft. Regarding the case, he has remained silent.
According to Lawyer Dickson Jere the Witchcraft Act was passed during colonial rule in 1914.
It helped shield old women who faced mob justice in communities after being accused of bewitching someone and caused their death, he said, even though people were “very rarely” convicted for practicing witchcraft.
The long-running conflict between the government and the late President Edgar Lungu’s family over his funeral has also brought up the topic of witchcraft.
Some speculate that “occult reasons” may be behind the government’s desire that he be buried in Zambia, against the wishes of his family.
The charge has been refuted by the government.
Due to the inability to agree on a funeral, Lungu passed away in South Africa in June, and his remains is currently in a mortuary there.
