Witchcraft: burning issue
Black magic, evil spirits and spells a growing problem in diverse communitiesAugust 27, 2005 Edition 1
Independent on Saturday Reporters
The recent killing of an elderly couple in Umlazi has highlighted the dark side of different beliefs in supernatural powers by South Africa's diverse communities.
African witchcraft - the belief that certain natural objects such as plants and animals, dead or alive, and even human body parts can be manipulated to produce an adverse effect showed its ugly face again this week when an elderly couple, Robert Myeni (86) and his wife Nomathamsanqa Qola (85) were attacked by an angry mob while sleeping in their two-room shack in the early hours of Sunday morning.
They were stabbed, wrapped in garbage bags and petrol was poured over them and around the house before being torched. Their terror-stricken grand-daughter, Zandile Sukude, fled and was only found on Wednesday.
Six men have been arrested and have appeared in the Umlazi Regional Court where they have been charged with two counts of murder with aggravating circumstances, conspiracy to commit murder and arson.
Anthropology lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Pearl Sithole, says strong community leaders are needed to resolve the situation.
"Traditional, political and church leaders are the only ones who can calm people down. The leaders themselves must be strong people who are respected and are able to deal with dynamic situations."
Sithole says witchcraft exists among many communities in South Africa. It tears apart families and is often blamed for instilling rivalry between mothers-in-law and their daughters-in-law and even between brothers and sisters.
She said many South Africans believed in the power of the unseen.
"Before uprooting the practice of witchcraft, we must establish the extent to which Africans believe in the power of the unseen.
"These beliefs fuel the assumption or belief in the existence of positive supernatural powers. This is why those who perform these rituals blame witchcraft if their lives are not improved after the rituals.
"Because it can't be proven, it is prone to abuse by people who have scores to settle," said Sithole.
She says the country's history of vigilantism against people who do not conform socially or politically makes it easy for people to convince others to resort to mob justice.
"People who have been told they are being bewitched by so and so know pretty well that they will not get justice through the courts.
"The bewitched get frustrated and start to consider other ways of getting justice. The laws against mob justice are of no comfort to someone who is told by a sangoma or inyanga that he is being bewitched," Sithole says.
She says witchcraft cannot be regulated or monitored, as the beliefs are in the supernatural.
"This is one case where the modern world or the western ways and the traditional have not found each other. Witchcraft is happening daily, but mob justice resulting in deaths is fairly rare."
She says traditional healers (inyangas, sangomas etc) authenticate witchcraft and tell their clients whether or not their misfortunes are the result of witchcraft.
"It will take anthropologists, sociologists, churches, inyangas, sangomas, traditional leaders and practitioners of western law to form legislation to ensure that the violent killings of innocent people are curbed once and for all."
Essay writer Richard Petraitis says "necklacing" of witches in South Africa's Limpopo province was often caused by an accusation where someone says: "My neighbour caused the lightning which killed my cow during the thunderstorm last week. I know he is a witch, because once when he did not know I was watching him, I saw that he had no shadow."
"In many cases, the victim's entire family will be subjected to the same punishment, whether or not they attempt to protect him.
"Observers suspect that jealousy sometimes lies behind accusations of witchcraft: a disproportionately large number of victims of "necklacing" recently have been the most prosperous or successful or well-educated in their communities," writes Petraitis.
SAPS spokesman in KwaZulu-Natal, Director Bala Naidoo, said: "Witchcraft on its own is not really a crime. Only if it can be proven that it has led to a crime such as the use of body parts in a ritual, then police investigations will follow.
Harmless
"In many cases spiritual healers are harmless and just use herbs and other potions that are supposed to cure ailments. However, there have been cases where certain witches and spiritual healers have been guilty of breaking the law."
Asked about communities accusing people of practising witchcraft and taking the law into their own hands, Naidoo said: "Communities need to come to the police with evidence. All information will be duly investigated. They cannot assume that someone is a witch and just take the law into their own hands."
Judge President of KwaZulu-Natal, Justice Vuka Tshabalala, said: "The question we need to ask ourselves is how do you prove that someone has cast a spell on you. It is an allegation that is usually cooked up in the community.
"It would be impossible to prove that a witch is responsible for your bad luck. That is the reason that these claims do not reach police and are dealt with by the community."
Tshabalala said only in certain cases can a person be charged. "If the spiritual healer killed or attempted to kill someone to obtain their body parts then charges can be opened up. These people face charges of murder or attempted murder."
Spiritual healers in Chatsworth argue their powers have fixed broken marriages, maimed enemies and even helped people win the Lotto.
One, from Westcliff in Chatsworth, says he has fixed broken relationships.
"Many people have come to me for assistance to get their lovers back. I use special herbs from Egypt that are uniquely blended with other ingredients to create this love potion.
"Lovers have been drawn back like magnets and these couples are inseparable."
Many people have prospered at work after using the herbs, according to Ally.
"Some people have come to me with problems of bad luck. I have assisted them in getting promotions at work. People have come to me and said that they've experienced problems where people are jealous of them at work.
"These jealous colleagues have become more envious when the person gets a promotion that places them in an even higher position than them."
Another healer, from Silverglen, claims he has assisted many people in winning the Lotto and making millions at the casino.
Magnets
"Individuals have come to me before they play the Lotto or go to the casino. I give them lucky charms to put into their pockets. I also give them herbs to bathe in.
"They have come back saying they have won millions. This lucky charm makes them like magnets to money."
He also says he has helped convicts get out of prison.
"Irrespective of what their sentence is, I will get them removed, just like that. There will be no court case or any other form of questioning. I will close the eyes of the magistrate."
He also described how he says he is able to unleash spirits of revenge on enemies.
"If someone comes to me and says they want revenge on someone I am able to release my short men (evil spirits and tokoloshes) to do some damage. I am also able to make them unhappy every minute of the day."
Another spiritual healer, from Woodhurst, says she has the ability to invoke flames to destroy homes. "Many other people unleash evil spirits or do the common things. When someone comes to me and asks that bad luck be passed on to someone else, I unleash the power of flames.
"I call for the spirits and the homes are suddenly burnt down. It happens within minutes, before help comes. When investigations are conducted, nobody is able to discover what has happened. The spirits are more powerful than the police and the fire department.
"People are still trying to figure out how these homes have burnt down. I am calling these spirits because my customers are paying me to do this. I do not do this of my own free will. I make a living from invoking the spirits to do the work for the community."
Black magic, evil spirits and spells seem to be a growing problem in the Indian community as the number of private mini-temples and priests increase.
Many are now earning fat fees as desperate community members seek their help.
Weakness
An investigation by The Independent on Saturday found streets lined with cars and queues of people standing outside temples in the North Coast region waiting to rid themselves of the so-called evil that has fallen on them.
Tulsiram 'TS' Maharaj, executive member of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, said people going to these so-called priests is a sign of sheer weakness and that all these hoax priests are just cashing in.
Maharaj said: "The scriptures say do not fear any evil spirit or devil. It will not come anywhere near you if you recite the name of God."
A "priest" who has a private temple at Phoenix says he sees more than 60 families a week and that the problem of black magic or witchcraft is common.
"Many of the people who come to me are either victims of black magic or want to see other people destroyed," he said.
He claimed the rituals were very powerful and almost always successful. He also said that they can protect people from imminent danger.
"If someone is worried that they will be harmed then we can make something to protect them. For those who have already been affected, we take away their bad luck or evil and instead put things right in their lives," Harilall said.
"We can also bind people's houses so they will be free of evil spirits as well as exorcise evil spirits from people.
"When we remove spirits from people, we use dough or black fowls and transfer the spirits into them. We then leave the dough or fowl at the river or at the graveyard. People trust us and we have helped many."
Sangeetha Ramsumaj of Tongaat swears by these priests.
"Ever since I started going to this uncle in Verulam, everything in my life has been working out. I go to him every Saturday at 5am and queue up with hundreds of other people so I can see him. My headaches have gone and I have found a good job. I don't mind paying this uncle as he has helped us so much," said Ramsumaj.
But resident Indian priest at Luxminarayan Temple in Mobeni Heights, Kalpesh Purohit, said it is all nonsense.
"I am very worried about what is happening. I can see the Indian community going the wrong way. They must change.
"Black magic, evil spirits and everything of this sort is not in the scriptures. The trances are a lie and nothing they do can work," said Purohit.
He also said that every person's life is determined by their luck and past lives and that nothing meant to harm you can work if it was not written.
Case study
JULY 29/05
Thirteen people, some of them teenagers, arrested for the brutal beating and burning of a north Durban couple they believed had used witchcraft to kill six children over a period of two years in the village of Ntshwani, in Stanger.
JULY 28/05
A headless and legless foetus found by two young brothers in an open field. Police have not ruled out the possibility of witchcraft.
JULY 12/05
Chilling details have emerged of the torture suffered by African children accused of witchcraft in "exorcisms". A shocking probe for BBC's Newsnight found children in Angola being subjected to horrifying cruelty by religious leaders to "ward off evil spirits".
JUNE 23/05
A Cape High Court judge slammed a self-confessed killer's claim that her belief in witchcraft drove her to douse her aunt with methylated spirits and set her alight in revenge for another relative's "mysterious death".
JUNE 18/05
David Mohale, the lover of the late Rain Queen, Queen Makobo Modjadji VI, said she started getting seriously sick after being inaugurated as queen in 2003. She had become partially blind and deaf and suspected witchcraft might be involved.
JUNE 15/05
An Overport resident found skinned and dismembered parts of dogs, which she thought involved witchcraft. She also said she and her friends had seen two men chasing what looked like a dog and, after chopping at it, the men had then moved over to a tree, where they seemed to be dancing, as if in a ritual.
JUNE 10/05
A bizarre midnight ritual involving the slaughter of three black sheep on Isipingo beach enraged animal rights activists. A Durban group, the Healing Oracle, was investigated for suspected occult practices following the beach "ritual". A spokesman said the group dealt mainly with people affected by witchcraft and that the group was very spiritual.
MARCH 29/05
Three arrested in connection with the murder of six family members in Eshowe. Police investigating a possible link between the killings and allegations of witchcraft.
MARCH 1/05
Eight boys between the ages of 14 and 18 appeared in the Giyani Magistrate's Court in connection with the torching of a number of huts in the area. About 90 youths were allegedly involved in the torching of 39 houses. They reportedly told the occupants of the houses "you are a witch", before burning their homes.
FEBRUARY 11/05
Senior government ministers were jeered by a large crowd at Tugela Ferry when they announced that five children who were found dead in a car several weeks before had died of suffocation and had no body parts missing. Mabona Ngcobo, 70, and his wife, Gwilile, 65, were accused of witchcraft and angry neighbours destroyed their house. The five children actually died of suffocation and heat exhaustion, and the police withdrew charges against them.
FEBRUARY 10/05
A Congolese boxer was accused of using black magic to overpower his opponent and weaken the referee. Lubandi Mamba Mulozi of the DRC walked into the ring covered in white powder and carrying charms, after having boasted that he "will beat Nkandu (his opponent) and carry his wife with me to Congo so that I can display her as a trophy of my victory". The fight was finally stopped when the referee collapsed and had to be carried from the ring. Zambian officials who stopped the fight said: "It is believed that magic was used - we are supposed to protect life."
JANUARY 19/05
Suspicions of witchcraft left a 56-year-old woman without a home or possessions after her house was burned down by a group of gangsters. According to Mariannhill police, former teacher Monica Shabane, who lives at St Wendolins, became a target of the gangsters after they had visited a local sangoma.
"One of the members of the gang had died recently and the rest of the gang suspected he had been bewitched. They consulted a local sangoma who told them Shabane was a witch and she had placed a curse on them," said a police spokesman. "They then went to her house and torched it."
DECEMBER 15/04
Two men arrested in connection with the murder of six members of one family in Mtubatuba. A petrol bomb had been thrown into the house while the family was sleeping and police suspect the motive for the murders was suspicions that the family was involved in witchcraft.
AUGUST 21/04
An Mpumalanga man killed a 6-year-old boy and kept his head in a fridge for religious rituals, claiming he was following the orders of a spirit. The suspect said the boy's body was buried in a sugarcane field and claimed he was ordered by a spirit to commit the murder for church rituals.
AUGUST 3/04
Attackers hacked off a 10-year-old boy's hand, ear and genitals and left him for dead in what police said could be part of the "muthi" trade in body parts for witchcraft.
JUNE 1/04
Police in Mozambique detained 14 people after human hearts, arms, hands and legs were found in a house, apparently for use in witchcraft. The accused claimed the organs were extracted not through murder but through magical techniques.
