Relatives and neighbours break down at the funeral wake of the late Mitsho Ncube who was murderd by his son in Entumbane, Bulawayo, yesterday morning
The Advocacy for Alleged Witches (AfAW) is urging the government of Zimbabwe to take urgent steps to stop the killing of persons accused of witchcraft in the country. This appeal has become necessary following the gruesome murder in Bulawayo of an 83 year old man, Mitsho Ncube.
According to a report in the Zimbabwean Chronicle, Ncube’s son, Thanbani bludgeoned the father to death after accusing him of witchcraft. The accusation is linked to the father’s refusal to use the rentals collected from tenants to pay utility bills. Thanbani, who had not paid his bills for more than four years, had after consulting local prophets said that the father had cast spell on him. He blamed the father for being responsible for his sickness and miserable life situation.
Such baseless accusations are rampant in Zimbabwe and often lead to the attack and killing of the accused. The government of Zimbabwe must take urgent steps to educate and get the people of Zimbabwe to understand that witchcraft is a form of superstition, and has no causal connection with everyday misery and misfortune. As this case shows, there is a mental health angle to witchcraft allegation and witch persecution. The government should consider subjecting witchcraft accusers and witch hunters to medical examination in order to ascertain the state of their mental health.
In addition, the government must sanction and call to order prophets, pastors, traditional medicine practitioners, priests and priestesses and all who sanctify and validate the belief that misfortunes could be caused by occult means. Like Thanbani, many people accuse, attack and murder alleged witches after consulting these god men and women. In fact these charlatans embolden persons who entertain witchcraft fears and anxieties to commit egregious crimes. Witchcraft accusation-enabling god men and women should be prosecuted for inciting violence and hatred, and for aiding and abetting crimes.
AfAW urges all Zimbabweans to become advocates for alleged witches and help defend and protect these innocent persons. Zimbabweans should embrace the vision of tackling witch persecution in the region, and of realizing a witch-hunting free Zimbabwe, and a witch-hunting free Africa in 2030.
Leo Igwe (born July 26, 1970) is a Nigerian human rights advocate and humanist. Igwe is a former Western and Southern African representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union, and has specialized in campaigning against and documenting the impacts of child witchcraft accusations. He holds a Ph.D from the Bayreuth International School of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, having earned a graduate degree in Philosophy from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. Igwe’s human rights advocacy has brought him into conflict with high-profile witchcraft believers, such as Liberty Foundation Gospel Ministries, because of his criticism of what he describes as their role in the violence and child abandonment that sometimes result from accusations of witchcraft. His human rights fieldwork has led to his arrest on several occasions in Nigeria. Igwe has held leadership roles in the Nigerian Humanist Movement, Atheist Alliance International, and the Center For Inquiry—Nigeria. In 2012, Igwe was appointed as a Research Fellow of the James Randi Educational Foundation, where he continues working toward the goal of responding to what he sees as the deleterious effects of superstition, advancing skepticism throughout Africa and around the world. In 2014, Igwe was chosen as a laureate of the International Academy of Humanism and in 2017 received the Distinguished Services to Humanism Award from the International Humanist and Ethical Union.
Igwe was raised in southeastern Nigeria, and describes his household as being strictly Catholic in the midst of a “highly superstitious community,” according to an interview in the Gold Coast Bulletin.[1] At age twelve, Igwe entered the seminary, beginning to study for the Catholic priesthood, but later was confused by conflicting beliefs between Christian theology and the beliefs in witches and wizards that are “entrenched in Nigerian society.”[1] After a period of research and internal conflict due to doubts about the “odd blend of tribalism and fundamentalist Christianity he believes is stunting African development,” a 24-year-old Igwe resigned from the seminary and relocated to Ibadan, Nigeria
