A court in Zambia has sentenced two men to two years in
prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.
The BBC reports that Leonard Phiri, a Zambian, and Jasten
Mabulesse Candunde, a Mozambican, were convicted under the country’s Witchcraft
Act after being arrested in December 2024.
The police said they were found in possession of assorted
charms, including a live chameleon, and are alleged to be practising
witchdoctors.
In his ruling, Fine Mayambu, the presiding judge, said the
evidence showed the men intended to use the charms against the president.
“It is my considered view that the convicts were not only
the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians,” Mayambu
ruled.
The case, closely followed by the public, marked the first
time anyone was put on trial in Zambia for attempting to use witchcraft against
a sitting president.
The defendants were reportedly hired by a fugitive former
lawmaker to bewitch Hichilema.
Despite claiming to be traditional healers, the court said
the men admitted ownership of the charms.
“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,” Mayambu said.
Agrippa Malando, who led the defence team, pleaded for
leniency, arguing they were first-time offenders who should be fined. But the
judge declined the request.
The judge said the Witchcraft Act, dating back to colonial
rule in 1914, remains relevant to protect society from fear and harm caused by
those who profess to wield supernatural powers.
“The question is not whether the accused are wizards or
actually possess supernatural powers. It is whether they represented themselves
as such, and the evidence clearly shows they did,” he added.
The court handed the men two years for “professing” witchcraft
and six months for possessing charms.
Since the sentences will run concurrently, they will serve
two years, effective from their arrest in December 2024.
Dickson Jere, a lawyer, noted that prosecutions under the
Witchcraft Act are rare.
Jere said the law was originally intended to protect
vulnerable groups, particularly elderly women, from mob attacks after being
accused of causing harm through witchcraft.
Witchcraft has also been at the centre of controversy in
Zambia’s ongoing dispute over the burial of former President Edgar Lungu, who
died in South Africa in June.
The government insists he should be buried in Zambia,
against the wishes of his family — a position critics claim is linked to
“occult reasons”.
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