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If you want to contact us,
please email info@insidepolitics.org.za
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09 February 2010
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WITCHCRAFT IN SOUTH AFRICA – THE BRUTAL REALITY (PART 2 OF 4)
Introduction
The problem with ‘witch’ murders and witchcraft-related crimes is that they are both under-reported and, in most instances, not identified as a specific type of crime by the South African Police Service.
The result is that it is very difficult to get a proper idea of how widespread, or horrific, the problem actually is.
In part three of this series, we will set out the hard numbers – as provided by the department of safety and security – but even these are limited in certain respects. Certainly they ignore the cruel, brutal torture and human mutilation that, more often than not, define almost any crime related to witchcraft in South Africa.
If a ‘witch’ is not identified and ostrasised, then she (and occassionaly he) is killed - often by fire or by being stoned and beaten to death; or both. And, if it is not a ‘witch’ that is identified and murdered, then a person’s life is taken for human body parts – supposedly because they hold magical powers – in the most savage fashion (commonly referred to as a ‘muti murder’).
And every other combination in between: Houses are burnt, property trashed, people are beaten, stabbed and raped. To die labelled a witch, or for muti, is surely one of the most gruesome and sickening ways in which a person can lose their life, in a country where death takes many horrible forms.
In part four we will look at some of the reasons why the press constantly fails to give witch killings or witchcraft related crimes any real prominence but, in the meantime, this article will attempt to give some idea of just how pervasive and dreadful the problem is.
(The human reality, as opposed to the hard numbers.)
Press reports are few and far between, certainly with regard to the mainstream papers, but in regional publications – such as Mpumalanga Today, the African Eye News Service and Zoutnet – stories abound, although almost never more than a paragraph.
Occasionally, a witch killing will make the main stream press, and be reported on in depth and in a sustained fashion.
One such example was the killing of a ‘witch’ in Mabunzi Village, just outside Kokstad, near the KwaZulu-Natal/Eastern Cape border, towards the end of last year. The story was featured prominently in the Daily Dispatch.
In an attempt to convey the brutal reality of the situation, both in terms of the frequency and the nature of the problem, InsidePolitics will today set out that incident, as well as provide a selection of other witchcraft-related stories from the media (there are many), from the last five years.
Hopefully the combination will go some way toward highlighting a very serious problem, which is often overlooked and certainly downplayed.
Nomanelwa Ngwane
No doubt, the killing of 50-year-old Nomanelwa Ngwane would have received little more than a matchbox-size story in the Daily Dispatch had the paper not been approached by journalist Max Mxabo, who not only happened to witness the killing, but took pictures on his cellphone.
The Daily Dispatch ran the original story, which Sapa broke, on page five, on 31 October 2006 – a story which ran to no more than 300 words. Subsequently the paper was approached by Mxabo and, on 3 November, with a controversial picture, and an accompanying front page editorial, the paper ran the brutal story on page one.
The headline was “They laughed as she died” and in it Mxabo, who had pulled off the N2 at Mount Ayliff when he saw a crowd gathering, sets out what he saw as follows:
“This woman was being stoned and assaulted with sharp instruments and all sorts of things, man it was hectic. I could not believe my eyes. The attackers struggled among one another in order to get to the woman, throwing stones and sticks at her. Wounds were visible on her whole body. The mob kept hitting her head with bush knives. They put paraffin all over her body. Her hair was burning. Some villa
| Posted on 14/5/2007
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