Casting a Spell: Attempted Murder of the President By Witchcraft Rivets Zambians 

In mid-September, a Zambian court sentenced two men to two years of hard labor in prison for attempting to kill Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema – with sorcery.  

The charges stem from an incident in December when a hotel cleaner in Zambia’s capital of Lusaka reported strange noises coming from a room. The two men were arrested after items such as a live chameleon, a mysterious white powder, a red cloth, and the tail of an unidentified animal were found among their possessions.  

Afterward, the two men – one a Mozambican national and traditional healer, Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, and the other, a Zambian village chief, Leonard Phiri – were accused of being “witchdoctors” and were charged under Zambia’s Witchcraft Act with “possession of charms,” “professing knowledge of witchcraft,” and “cruelty to wild animals.”  

Police say the two had been promised more than $73,000 by a political opponent of the president to bewitch Hichilema in a case that has gripped the nation.

Many Zambians take witchcraft very seriously: A study by the Zambia Law Development Commission in 2018 found that 79 percent of Zambians believed in witchcraft. 

The criminal justice system also takes it seriously. In Zambia, under a colonial-era law, those found guilty of witchcraft face a fine or up to two years in jail, with the possibility of hard labor. However, witchcraft cases have been difficult to prosecute in the country because of difficulties in collecting evidence or finding credible witnesses. 

This case was also tricky for prosecutors, who say the pair were hired by Nelson Banda, the brother of independent lawmaker Emmanuel “Jay Jay” Banda, to do harm to the president. Banda, who is facing trial for robbery, attempted murder, and escaping custody, was previously associated with former President Edgar Lungu from the opposition Patriotic Front (PF) party – Lungu lost the presidency to Hichilema in 2021.  

The PF called the accusations against Banda politically motivated, while others alleged it was a stunt by Hichilema, who faces reelection next year. The president, who himself was accused of witchcraft by a past Zambian president a decade ago, has not commented on the case.  

Some local media, however, blasted it. 

“The president has nothing substantive to ride on to kick-start his second-term campaign – what better distraction from the economic crisis we face than a live viewing of a trial of ‘witches’ in the postmodern era,” wrote the Lusaka Times in an editorial. “Knowing Zambians fear witchcraft more than gunfire, the president hopes to score a major win. But the truth is…this trial will only expose him as a desperate figure, pleading for public sympathy while the whole world laughs at him.” 

Still, the trial sparked huge interest in the country and highlighted the impact of the belief in witchcraft in the country. In Zambia, for example, there are “witch camps” where those accused of sorcery, usually elderly women, are placed if they have survived the accusations in their communities. There, residents live in inhumane conditions, say activists, and almost never return to their communities. Often, the women sit behind a fence, posing for tourists, often tied with ribbons to prevent them from flying away. 

These so-called witch camps exist around the region, including in Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi, and Ghana, where belief in witches is deeply ingrained and goes back centuries. 

“The issue is persistent because of local beliefs,” Amnesty International West Africa researcher Michèle Eken told Newsweek. “It starts with a simple accusation…It can be because someone died in the village, and they are accused of being responsible. Or, tragically, the accusation can come from someone who has a debt to repay and does not want to pay it back or someone who wants their house/goods.” 

While activists and some governments have tried to stop the stigma and punishment, other places in Africa, such as The Gambia, have carried out state-sponsored witch hunts in the past two decades. 

Some, meanwhile, believe it is time to do away with the Zambian law that criminalizes witchcraft: It dates to 1914 when Zambia was part of the British “sphere of influence,” and does not reflect the country today culturally, they say.  

“Traditional Zambian societies and individuals believe in a strong relationship between the human world and the supernatural,” Gankhanani Moyo of the University of Zambia told the Associated Press. “I hate that colonial piece of legislation that attempts to outlaw a practice that it does not understand.”