Southern Africa: Witchcraft - a Frightening Face of GBV

opinion

Johannesburg — On Friday last week, my colleagues and I had a heated debate in the office about whether witchcraft exists or does not. This came - in the wake of a newspaper report in one of the dailies about witchcraft in Mpumalanga Province in South Africa. The community blamed witchcraft for the high rates of unemployment.

I asked a colleague from Malawi, reputedly the hub of witchcraft in Southern Africa (blame it on oral tradition, I have heard it!), if this exists. Without hesitation he said that witchcraft existed and that if I go to Malawi, he will take me to a few people who can even fly me in the witches 'plane', the winnowing basket.

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