THE FEAR OF WITCHCRAFT

GENERALLY speaking, witchcraft is any type of evil that deleteriously affects the serenity of human life in various communities.

This is particularly true of many African countries including Zambia where the conviction in witchcraft is so inescapable that it can be viewed as a routine feature of many African spiritual beliefs.

From a traditional African viewpoint, there is an irrefutable connection between the material and spiritual worlds connected to witchcraft.

Because revered and worldly realities are attached in African traditional beliefs, it is a common practice to attribute the calamities that happen to people to supernatural powers such as witchcraft.

In Zambia, particularly in rural parts, there many accounts of witchcraft reportedly causing harm to others by use of supernatural powers.

Many Zambian teachers, nurses and agriculture officers have been reported to have abandoned their work places in some of Zambia’s rural parts due to witchcraft.

In some instances female workers have claimed to have been sexually molested by wizards in their sleep at night while male employees have also reported of dreaming having sex with witches.

But because witchcraft is generally directed against others, it is commonly professed as “the anti-social crime par excellence” and we think it should not only be condemned but also stopped all together because it is feckless.

So the reported witchcraft scare in Chirundu is real as it is seeing more and more civil servants fleeing the district for fear of being bewitched and residents of Chief Chipepo are deeply concerned and worried over the increasing number of people practicing witchcraft in the area.

One of the worried residents Mr Lee Mweemba of Simaundu village bitterly explained to it was very unfair that witches were killing innocent people who had nothing to do with their families.

Mr Mweemba said witchcraft had brought about a lot of confusions in the Chiefdom.

He said families spent a lot of money to invest in their children’s lives and that the witches just killed without any reason.

He said people were fighting and killing each other on suspicions of practicing witchcraft and in trying to revenge, lives were lost in that manner.

Another concerned resident Mr Vista Hachilongo said the number of witchcraft reports and summons by the chiefdom council had tremendously increased because the traditional leadership was not putting in a lot of efforts to curb the practice.

He said the practice of witchcraft in the area was very real and it was for that reason some civil servants deployed to work in the area such as teachers and nurses were running away.

Mr Hachilongo charged that it was for that reason the area has remained undeveloped because some people were enemies of development and killers.

He said because some witches were targeting school going children, many parents were sending them away to other districts to complete their education.

He also explained that some people were inflicting pain and sickness on others resulting in prolonged illnesses without diagnosis even after being taken to the hospital.

Mr Hachilongo accused the traditional leadership of supporting the acts and perpetrators of witchcraft in the area

Meanwhile Chief Chipepo told the Sun in a telephone interview that he had been praying for the Chiefdom and most of the people accused of practicing witchcraft had repented and were now attending church meetings.

We can’t deny that the acceptance in witchcraft is a strong and prevalent portent in Zambia today but when it begins to disturb life like in Chirundu, and then it is no longer only a village affaire, but is something which should attract the attention of people of diverse education and religious affiliation and find the way forward.