Witch burning in Tanzania

Police in Tanzania arrested 23 people for the murder of seven villagers. The suspects thought that the seven victims were involved in witchcraft. Such activities, involving witch hunts appear to be quite frequent in Tanzania. The latest attacks took place on Monday in the village of Murufiti, situated in the western part of the Kigoma region. Five out of the seven witch suspects were elder persons, aged over 60, while the remaining two were people over 40 years old. A human rights group from Tanzania believed the number of such witch hunts and killings goes up to 500 each year in the region. The murder suspects were called before a court on Friday facing first-degree murder chargers. One of the murderers is a local leader, according to police commander Jafari Mohamed.

People who witnessed the attack say that the witch suspects were attacked with machetes while still in their homes, dragged outside and burned. Their homes were also set ablaze. Josephat John, one of the victim’s son told a local newspaper: “When I returned home in the evening, I found the body of my mother lying 10 meters away from our house, while the body of my father was burnt inside the house”. Hamisi Richard, the leader of the Murufiti village declared: “Men and women have run away from the village. Even children are not there… Everyone was scared of that event, and others feared police search”.

Apparently, people in many parts of Tanzania still believe in witches and witchcraft. Reports say that between 2005 and 2011, more than 3,000 people were accused of being witches and practicing witchcraft. Soon after that they were all killed because of this. Most of the victims turned out to be old women, considered “witch doctors”. These “witch doctors” are usually village healers, however they were sometimes involved in the witch hunts themselves. The witch hunt also targeted young children whom they found peculiar or albinos. They believe the body parts of albino people can bring prosperity and luck.

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Tanzania is not the only African country to perform such acts of violence. In 1992, more than 300 Kenyans were accused of witchcraft and murdered by furious groups of people, who also burned their homes to the ground In 1995, Uganda reported over 50 murders related to witch hunts. South Africa reported over 150 murders of presumed witchcraft practitioners. This list continues to grow up to this date.