Keypoints:
- Two jailed for plotting president’s death
- Colonial-era Witchcraft Act rarely invoked
- Accused claimed to be traditional healers
A ZAMBIAN court has jailed two men for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema, in a rare case under the country’s colonial-era Witchcraft Act.
Magistrate Fine Mayambu on Monday sentenced Zambian national Leonard Phiri and Mozambican Jasten Mabulesse Candunde to two years in prison after finding them guilty of professing witchcraft and possessing charms, including a live chameleon. The sentences will run concurrently, effective from their arrest in December 2024.
Court rejects plea for leniency
Prosecutors told the court that the men were hired by a fugitive former MP to harm the president through occult means. Despite their claim to be traditional healers, they admitted owning the charms. Magistrate Mayambu noted in court that Phiri demonstrated how a chameleon’s tail, when pricked and used in a ritual, could supposedly cause death within five days.
‘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 said.
Defence lawyer Agrippa Malando pleaded for a fine rather than jail time, citing the pair as first-time offenders, but the magistrate rejected the request.
Rare use of colonial law
The Witchcraft Act, introduced in 1914 during British colonial rule, is seldom used today. Legal expert Dickson Jere told the BBC that prosecutions are rare but the law aims to prevent fear and violence linked to accusations of witchcraft, which can lead to mob attacks on suspected practitioners, especially elderly women.
Mayambu stressed that the trial was not about proving 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.’
President silent on verdict
President Hichilema, who has previously stated that he does not believe in witchcraft, has not commented on the ruling. The case drew nationwide attention as the first known prosecution for attempting to bewitch a sitting Zambian president.
Witchcraft has recently featured in other high-profile debates in Zambia, including a dispute over the burial of former president Edgar Lungu. His family has accused the government of insisting on an in-country burial for occult reasons, a claim officials deny. Lungu died in South Africa in June and remains unburied amid the ongoing dispute.
