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30 days of advocacy against Witch-hunts in Africa
29 March to 27 April 2010
The ‘witchcraft epidemic’ in Africa is fuelled by religious extremism. Practitioners of traditional African religions, traditional healers, witch-doctors and Christian missionaries and religious leaders incite witch-hunts on this continent.
There are comparisons to be made between Africa’s current witch-craze, European Inquisitions and American witch-hunts. Perhaps the lessons to be learned in Africa are the same as those that needed to be learned by Europeans and Americans; there is no ‘culture’ without human rights.
All men and women, including Witches, have the right to live without being falsely accused, assaulted, persecuted or murdered.
Say NO to witch-hunts in Africa!
Support or participate in this campaign? Contact TouchStone Advocacy
or join our campaign on Facebook for planning and action updates HERE
ISSUE NUMBER 45 - DECEMBER 2009
ONLINE NOW
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Hekate: Threeformed Images
by Sorita d’Este
When we examine the myths and legends of the many cultures and religions of the ancient Mediterranean, the Goddess Hekate stands out from the rest. There is simply no other Goddess like her, with evidence stretching back into time, but also crossing the boundaries of tradition, religion and pantheon in rather remarkable ways. Her mysteries are open to all, and her magic to those who have the wisdom to see and who are able to put fear aside in order to cross the boundaries and learn from her.
Queer Spirit & the Craft
by Graeme Shackleford
For many LGBT people, Paganism provides a welcoming, safe, and non-judgemental spiritual environment, something not offered by many of the mainstream religions from which many of these LGBT people have come. Certainly they are offered ‘salvation’, but it is at the high cost of having to forfeit something I believe to be a fundamental part of the human experience, something to which every person has the right: to love another and to be loved by another. Love, I feel, is one of the most basic and beautiful aspects of life.
Bitch Craft
by Morgause Fonteleve
How often have your nerves been jangled by the use of the term “Bitchcraft” when referring to Witch wars, forum squabbles and factional arguments? As if Witches were no more than a two-legged canine species who are beyond any sort of self-control or of acting responsibly upon the power of reasoning, incapable of discernment and who engage in rip-roaring altercations where all that is requested of one is to bark louder than the next, yap and bite with the aim to injure the opponent, come what may, in any manner possible, no matter what, without any regard, respect, compassion or common courtesy for whom it is we might be dealing with?!
Witchcraft: superstition or religion?
by Damon Leff
How should actual self-identified Witches in South Africa, who seek to retain our right to continue to self-identify as Witches, respond to the accusation of superstition against Witchcraft? Do we remain silent about our existence and risk the prejudicial characterization and suppression of our beliefs and magical practices, or do we advocate for recognition of our existence and for the recognition of our belief system as a bone-fide religion? Irrespective of whether you view our spiritual beliefs and magical practices as bad religion or bad science, Witchcraft remains and thrives in broad daylight.
Parliament of the World's Religionsby Ed Hubbard
In the world of Interfaith relations, where religions, faiths and traditions seek to find cooperation and peaceful coexistence, the labels and definitions and how they are used are important. Descriptions of faith practices are the way interfaith speakers share information that leads to greater understanding, and the clearer the language used, the better chance all parties will be able to find common ground.
by Bronwen Griffiths
If you take nothing else away from reading this article, then take this at least, green issues are no longer fringe issues that only really wacky people consider as being a requirement to normal life. Rather, being conscious of your impact on the wider environment is becoming something that is the sensible thing to do. Your motivation itself is less of an issue, you can believe that sustainability is a good idea for a range of reasons no matter how weird as long as your actions lead to a measurable increase in sustainability.
PENTON REVIEWKhepera Rising
written by Nerine DormanA masterfully crafted piece of fiction that I thoroughly enjoyed reading; I couldn't put it down. I almost thought I recognized some of the characters fabricated by Dorman. The plot is sound and credible, even believable. If you hate wading through endless pages of fluff that has nothing to do with the actual story being told, you'll appreciate the fact that Dorman wastes no time or space following this story to its conclusion.
Sveto says she was recruited into practicing witchcraft without her knowledge and left behind at the Highfield home after refusing to carry out ritual orders to kill her brother in law. At around 6am Sveto was discovered naked last Sunday at a house in Harare’s high density suburb of Highfield. Her explanation for this…she was left behind by her father in law and aunt after allegedly refusing to perform rituals as commanded by the two to kill her brother in law who lives at the Highfield house. So it is punishment for refusing initiation into the deadly art of withcraft, she says. [1]
A Harare magistrate found Sveto guilty of public indecency; she was found naked in a relative's yard, and sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of 12 months.
The unnamed ZBC reporter proceeds to make a number of assumptions about Sveto, witchcraft and witches.
"On the surface Sveto appears to be a common witch but how should society respond to a situation, if it is true, that she was forced by her father in law into practicing the dark art of witchcraft unwittingly and without her consent. The issue of her morality has also provoked debate as she says she refused to kill her brother in law." ... "In Zimbabwe, witches can expect no mercy if they are caught practicing their craft. Assault, divorce, and even death have been the fate of witches and in many cases those suspected of engaging in the feared practice."
Whilst the report carefully attempts to detail 2006 amendments to Zimbabwe's 1899 Witchcraft Suppression Act, he (or she) fails to critically examine Sveto's actual confession. It does more than just stretch credibility. It turns the table on hundreds of years of scientific evidence.
A more recent ZBC report covering a call by the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) to draft a document that will provide guidelines in dealing with cases of witchcraft in both legal and traditional courts, not only defies evidence, it defies rational logic. The report recounts the story of Sveto as one example in a body of collected reported evidence that witchcraft is real.
" While people may debate what can be done to the witches and whether the practice is right or wrong, what is clear now is that witchcraft is not an uncivilised superstitious belief but is real, and people can really fly and use snakes to bewitch others. The question that remains is that, what should be done to a person who confesses that they are practicing witchcraft. Is there any evidence to prove it in the courts? Well ZINATHA together with the judiciary, police force are looking into the issue." [2]
If the expert testimony of the ZINATHA traditional healer and vice president Sekuru Nelson Jambaya, who testified in Regina Sveto's trial, is evidence of what ZINATHA intends to codify in their draft guidelines in dealing with cases of witchcraft, witchcraft accusations are not likely to decrease any time soon.
Regina Sveto, 21, “hissed like a snake” and “went into a trance” as Sekuru Nelson Jambaya, the vice president of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) testified that witches can travel as far as South Africa during the night and “fly back as soon as their mission is accomplished”. [3]
Jambaya told the court "According to my knowledge, if the woman said she flew from Murehwa in a basket, then she is a witch. Witches do a lot of this and they are known to travel naked at night."
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In response to a South African Witch who complained that her broom has never flown, I suggested purchasing a 'made in Zimbabwe' winnowing basket. It's so bad up there that even the indigenous grasses appear to have learned to overcome gravity in an attempt to escape the stupidity. I suppose the trees and reeds feel the same way, so perhaps making a broom made from genuine Zimbabwean grass and wood will work just as well. One of the North Berwick witches was accused of going to sea in a sieve to raise storms. Just as credible in my opinion. We all know Berwick sieves were sick of listening to King James go on and on about how he had almost drowned. They say the urge to escape is very contagious.
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References:[1] Woman found naked in botched 'witchcraft mission'
[2] Let's draft document that deals with witchcraft cases - ZINATHA
[3] Naked basket flight woman a witch - expert
He quotes a Tanzanian theologian Fr. Laurent Magesa who explains that belief in witchcraft in Africa will never be eradicated because witchcraft is an essential part of the African world-view - "Evil originates not merely from the breaking of taboos and other laws, but from spiritual, mystical powers at work in the universe... in African Religion, witchcraft must be understood as part of the mystery of the human person. Witchcraft is therefore central to the understanding of morality and ethics among Africans."
One must assume that holding the fundamentalist belief that "evil, in the African perception, is always incarnated; it does not exist except as it exists in the evil person, that is, in the witch.", that the price for Africa's continuing morality and ethics must remain and be the subjugation of Witches. In many African states, that means subjugation by any means necessary. In many African countries where witchcraft-related violence has become epidemic, Africans themselves however have been calling for an end to the belief in witchcraft.
In an effort to stamp out witchcraft in Tanzania President Jakaya Kikwete encouraged Tanzanians to identify those responsible for killing albinos to obtain their body parts for use in magic. Kikwete is reported to have said the murders brought shame on the country. [2]
Leo Igwe, Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Humanist Movement, who was recently attacked by 200 members of a Christian church at a conference he had organised on Child Rights and Witchcraft, [3] calls witchcraft "a primitive superstition which predates the advent of Christianity."
"Witchcraft is a 'real belief' in what is unreal - witches and wizards. Witches are imaginary entities without any real existence. Africans need to wake up to the fact that there are no witches or wizards. That witchcraft is superstition and has no basis in reason, science or common sense. The time has come for Africa to do away with this primitive superstition."... "And like all superstitions, witchcraft is a belief informed by fear and ignorance. For centuries witchcraft has been used to perpetrate and justify atrocious acts and human rights abuses. Witchcraft has corrupted efforts to explain issues, understand and tackle problems commonsensical. Today efforts to eradicate this mistaken belief and the problems it is causing in Malawi and in other African countries are being undermined by Christian fanatics who use the Bible to justify, fuel and incite witchcraft accusation, witch persecution and killing." Leo Igwe. [4]
In Gambia President Yahya Jammeh is reported to have invited "witch doctors" from Guinea to find and neutralise witches, because he believed that witchcraft was involved in the death of his aunt. [5] Reuters and Amnesty International reported that witch doctors and security forces in Gambia detained up to 1,000 people on suspicion of being witches, and forced them to drink hallucinogenic substances.
One of the unnamed victims told Amnesty "I experienced and witnessed such abuse and humiliation. I cannot believe that this type of treatment is taking place in Gambia. It is from the dark ages." [6]
In Zimbabwe a former member of parliament representing chiefs in Mashonaland West fled his village after a witch-hunting ceremony implicated his close relatives. The chief had allowed the traditional healers, known as Tsikamutanda, to cleanse the villages of witchcraft. Villagers accused of witchcraft were forced to pay fines of maize-meal, chicken, goats, sheep as well as cattle. [7]
In South Africa the Catholic Diocese of Tzaneen intends to canonize a Catholic named Benedict Daswa who was killed in 1990 for opposing the belief in witchcraft because he believed "it led to the killing of innocent people accused of witchcraft activities." [8]
South Africans who are self-identified Witches, by virtue of their very existence, publicly challenge firmly entrenched and prejudicial African beliefs concerning Witchcraft. [9] They also contradict the attempts by rational humanists, like Leo Igwe, to eradicate a belief in witchcraft in Africa by claiming that "there are no witches".
Is there a single predominant narrative on Witchcraft in Africa? To be fair, there are hundreds of thousands. Every witch-hunter and every victim has one. If there is a predominant lesson, it must surely be that the prejudice, intimidation, violence and suppression that such a 'belief of necessity' engenders can be neither moral nor ethical.
Reference:
[1] 'Africa: Why Belief in Witchcraft Remains Strong Among Africans' by Henry Makori
[2] Tanzania 'witch-naming' under way
[3] British Humanist Association: Anti-witchcraft conference attacked by Christian church in Nigeria
[4] 'Towards A Humanist Awakening in Africa' by Leo Igwe
[5] Rights group: 1,000 seized in Gambia 'witch-hunt'
[6] Hundreds accused of 'witchcraft' persecuted in The Gambia
[8] South Africa: Anti-Witchcraft Catholic May Become Saint
[9] Witchcraft and Reclamation in South Africa
Minority voices in South Africa are excluded from participating in public debate on issues which directly affect them because the media and press have deduced that we do not have a right to be heard.
The S.A. press and media have, despite so-called self-regulation, made and continue to make inappropriate, distorted, exaggerated and misrepresented references to Witchcraft; references which reinforce dated assumptions and insensitive stereotyping. Journalists hide behind editors who hide behind self-regulating press ombudsman's, who believe that when discussing Witchcraft, fairness and due process should be sacrificed on prejudicial principle.
The practice of publishing distorted, prejudicial and pejorative propaganda against Witchcraft not only contravenes the Press Code, with respect to avoiding discriminatory or denigratory references to people's religion, but also contravenes the Bill of Rights with respect to the right of religious communities to practice their religion, and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act with respect to publishing, propagating or advocating prejudice that could reasonably be construed as demonstrating a clear intention to be hurtful and to promote or propagate mistrust of Witches and Satanists.
Section 16 (2.3) of the South African Bill of Rights determines that whilst everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and media, the right to freedom of expression does not extend to a right to advocate hatred based on religion. [1] Whilst one could argue that publishing factually incorrect and misleading articles on Witchcraft does not amount to advocating hatred against an existing religious minority, the refusal to permit correction or fair comment amounts to nothing more than intentional sanction against the right of South African Witches to freedom of expression.
Biased reporting on Witchcraft inspires prejudice against Witches themselves because such reporting reinforces, whether deliberately or unintentionally, generally espoused misconceptions and untruths regarding Witchcraft. When the group identity is defamed, individuals who share in that identity, i.e. Witches, suffer a loss of dignity.
When publishing defamatory content on or against Witchcraft, both journalists and editors alike justify their disregard for the reputation and dignity of Witches, by appealing to freedom of the press and public interest. In South Africa freedom of expression is regarded as an entitlement only to certain approved sectors of society.
Politicians are permitted to make accusations of Witchcraft against their political opponents with impunity. [2] Members of Provincial Parliament are permitted to express derogatory opinions regarding the right of Witches to challenge legislation that contradicts the Bill of Rights of the South African constitution. [3]
An ex-police official, who has built a questionable reputation for having special expertise on the occult, is permitted to express his biased and wholly speculative opinions on what constitutes evidence of interest and involvement in the occult. [4] But Occultists themselves, including Witches, Wiccans and Satanists, are denied the right to either correct inaccurate statements or to challenge self-ascribed credentials as "occult expert".
Since January 2009 the general population who consumes this unedited and factually variant smorgasbord of prejudicial content against Witchcraft have learnt the following:
1. "Witches use black chickens and dogs and colourful candles to kill their targets." Schoeman Xulu - Traditional Healer
In this article a traditional healer named Schoeman Xulu is reported to have alleged that the abhorrent abuse and injury of a border collie puppy was the work of Witches. Xulu’s allegation is based on his alleged personal admission that the modus operandi was an attempt to "trap someone to death". "The perpetrators were trapping someone to death. Witches use black chickens and dogs and colourful candles to kill their targets. I feel sorry for whoever the practice was directed at," said Xulu. [5]
2. Trusted community members become monsters [Witches] at night. Maniki Motloutsi - Inyanga
In this article inyanga Maniki Motloutsi is reported as saying, "I have caught many witches here in my yard and you will be surprised who does these thing as these are usually trusted community members who become monsters at night... Evil exists, what that witch is doing to the child is evil and must be stopped as soon as possible, she is not an inyanga but a killer". Motloutsi makes allegations against an unnamed traditional healer, who does not self-identify as a Witch, with whom he is in competition. [6]
3. Witchcraft can cause women to give birth to crockery. Aulerio Demoraz - Traditional Healer (Mozambican Association of Traditional Healers)
In this article (published by both IOL and Dispatch Online) it is alleged that an unnamed 18 year old Mozambican woman gave birth to three cups. The president of the Mozambican Association of Traditional Healers (Ametramo) Aulerio Demoraz is reported to have stated that "similar cases had occurred in other parts of the world due to witchcraft." [7]
4. Witches are responsible for drugging cats in the western Cape. Marlene Neethling (Die Burger reporter)
Reporter Marlene Neethling falsely attributes a statement implicating Witchcraft involvement in the drugging of a cat to Mr. Andries Venter - Chief Inspector of the SPCA. In a letter to the editor of Die Burger, Mr. Venter denies having personally stated that Witchcraft was being considered as a possible cause of a cat’s intoxication on opiates. This statement was never published and Die Burger never published a correction. [8]
5. The right to challenge institutional prejudice against a religious minority is arrogant. Adrian Williams (Mpumalanga MP)
Mpumalanga ANC MP Adrian Williams accused the South African Pagan Rights Alliance of being arrogant in pursuing the reclamation of the terms Witch and Witchcraft by challenging the 1957 Witchcraft Suppression Act. [9]
6. "[Witches and Satanists] seek power or strength to manipulate people". Kobus Jonker (self-proclaimed Occult expert).
Judge Flip Hattingh postponed the trial against Morne Harmse, a school boy who murdered a fellow school pupil with a sword, to allow time for expert witnesses to interview the accused. The state had lodged a draft order seeking to secure the evidence of "occult expert" Dr (sic) Kobus Jonker. Jonker is quoted as saying "They seek a power. They want to say 'I have a power or strength to manipulate people'." [10]
All attempts to challenge these false and (falsely accredited) statements and allegations made about Witchcraft have been dismissed by the editors of The Witness, News 24.com, IOL, Dispatch Online, Die Burger, iafrica.com, eyewitnessnews, SABC News and E-TV News on the grounds of freedom of expression.
The Press Appeals Panel Chairperson Judge Ralph Zulman and the South African Press Ombudsman Mr. J. Thloloe have found no just cause for complaint or appeal against reported bias against Witchcraft, despite the fact that each of the articles clearly contravenes the South African Press Code. [11]
Thloloe and Zulman have rather determined that religious minorities in South Africa do not have the right to news coverage of their religion that is truthful, accurate or fair, and that Witches who seek to correct published misinformation are merely proselytising their religion. [12]
Reporters and editors have become a law unto themselves, determining who shall and who may not be heard, solely on the basis of their own personal prejudices (call it 'space' if you will).
Clearly, everyone does not have the right to freedom of expression in this country.
References:
[1] Bill of Rights Section 16
Section 16 (entitled Freedom of Expression) of the South African Bill of Rights states,
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, which includes
1. freedom of the press and other media;
2. freedom to receive or impart information or ideas;
3. freedom of artistic creativity; and
4. academic freedom and freedom of scientific research.
2. The right in subsection (1) does not extend to
1. propaganda for war;
2. incitement of imminent violence; or
3. advocacy of hatred that is based on race, ethnicity, gender or religion, and that constitutes incitement to cause harm.
[2] Sexwale and Zuma and other - accusations of witchcraft against political opponents
[3] Adrian Williams on the South African Pagan Rights Alliance.
'Mixing politics and witchcraft' by Buyekezwa Makwabe. Published in The Times and the Sunday Times on 08 August 2009.
[4] Kobus Jonker on Morne Harmse
[5] 'Witchcraft: Dog spell to trap victim' by Witness Reporter. Published 31 July 2008 by The Witness.
[6] 'Inyanga to rescue possessed child' by Lerato Serero. Published 07 August 2008 by News24.com.
[7] 'Woman gives birth to cups' Published 14 August 2008 by IOL.
(and) 'Mozambican teen gives birth to three cups' - ' Woman gives birth to cups’ republished 15 August 2008 by Dispatch Online.
[8] 'Kat dalk in heksedaad bedwelm' by Marlene Neethling. Published 25 March 2009 by Die Burger.
[9] 'Mixing politics and witchcraft' by Buyekezwa Makwabe. Published 08 August 2009 by The Times and the Sunday Times.
[10] 'Harmse was seeking 'a power to manipulate' Published 01 September 2009 by IOL.
[11] The South African Press Code
2. Discrimination and Hate Speech
2.1 The press should avoid discriminatory or denigratory references to people's religion.
2.2 The press should not refer to a person's religion in a prejudicial or pejorative context except where it is strictly relevant to the matter reported or adds significantly to readers' understanding of that matter.
[12] Mr Damon Leff, Director of the South African Pagan Rights Alliance, v.s. Various Publications. 15 May 2009.
(and)
Press Appeal Panel discriminates against Witchcraft. 20 July 2009.
Williams, a confessed eclectic Wiccan and Pagan, has relinquished his constitutional right to call himself a Witch (which he is) because he says "the issue needs to be treated with sensitivity in South Africa".
The "issue" at stake concerns the right of a religious minority to name themselves, in a country in which the majority of South Africans, whether Christian or African tradionalist, still believe that Witches are a primary source of misfortune and that Witchcraft must be suppressed.
"I don’t call myself a witch. I distance myself from those terms because they are highly offensive to the vast majority of people in this country. In South Africa, a witch is someone who comes into your house, kills your children and cuts off their genitalia." Adrian Williams
The sensitivity Williams would have us Witches show toward those who claim a cultural or religious right to prejudicial and harmful beliefs concerning Witches and Witchcraft, is, in effect, a call for us not to challenge the beliefs that motivate violent witch-hunts against innocent citizens in South Africa
Williams merely echoes a false urban legend surrounding muti-murders - in which the object of the murder is the removal of human body tissue for use in magic. Muti is a term that means "medicine". On the contrary, easily verifiable evidence reveals that unregistered Inyangas (traditional African herbalists) not aligned with credible traditional healing organizations have actually been found guilty in courts of law of trading in human body parts. [4]
No self-defined Witch in South Africa has ever been charged with or found guilty in any South African court of law for the practice of human mutilation, nor for the trade in human body parts, because actual Witches do not engage in such practices.
Does Williams want Witches to appease the Witch-hunters among us by suppressing the evidence for the sake of a fabricated scape-goat? Does he really want Witches to bear the cross of 'false witness' to appease the masses who support the ANC and its Communist Party allies?
Or perhaps Williams does not know that African traditional healers (isangomas - diviners and inyangas - herbalists) do not self-identify as Witches nor as Witch-doctors, and do not call their traditional magical and religious practices Witchcraft?
Williams calls South African Witches arrogant for wishing to repeal the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957, an act that was originally drafted by the apartheid Christian Nationalist government to suppress indigenous traditional healing and magical practices which they erroneously identified as 'Witchcraft'.
"Go to Limpopo and declare that you’re a witch and see how long you survive... It does not undermine any right except the right to define yourself... I just think it’s very arrogant of white pagans in South Africa to push for rights they know will be detrimental to the majority." Adrian Williams
Clearly Williams believes that the majority are correct and justified in their intolerance for Witches in Limpopo and elsewhere. I suppose losing one's delusions and fantasies about Witches and Witchcraft could certainly be detrimental to those who profit from beliefs that motivate and justify Witch-hunts; who find accusations of witchcraft a convenient way to persecute an unwanted neighbour or troublesome member of one's own family.
Contrary to Williams, Witches who seek to maintain their constitutional right to continue to define themselves as Witches believe that no person has the right to perpetrate acts of violence against another on the basis of their cultural or religious beliefs.
No person is guilty of practising Witchcraft on the basis of an accusation. Perhaps Williams does not know that in South Africa accusations of bewitchment are rarely based on sound evidence or fact, but are often motivated through fear, superstition, jealousy, envy and spite.
If Williams intends to use his office to promote the right to equality and dignity for all South African citizens without prejudice, he's going to have learn to differentiate between detrimental and constructive rights.
"The nature of oppression and exploitation consists mainly in removing from the oppressed and exploited the ability to name themselves and their reality ...[]... At the initial stage, it is immaterial whether or not such self-naming is right or wrong in the estimation of the observer. What matters at this stage is the ability to say with full conviction and confidence, "This is who I am. This is what affects me. My world is such and such". Laurenti Magesa [5]
References:
[1] Adrian Williams - ANC MP Mpumalanga
[2] South African Pagan Rights Alliance
[3] Mixing politics and witchcraft
Buyekezwa Makwabe
[4] Body-part 'salesman' in court
2009-07-16
[5] Laurenti Magesa - Africa's Struggle for Self-Definition During a Time of Globalization
(August-September 1999) Significance of naming one’s reality
Further Reading:
SAPRA Press: ANC MP wants Witches to stop calling themselves Witches?
http://www.paganrightsalliance.org/press.h
The South African Pagan Council
http://www.pagancouncil.co.za/node/438
The Pagan in South Africa's Parliament
http://wildhunt.org/blog/2009/08/the-pag
The Pagan in South Africa's Parliament
http://www.topix.com/religion/pagan-wicc
Pax has invited Pagan bloggers to write about Pagan Values.
In June the sun is at it’s height in the Northern Hemisphere and nearly hidden from view in the Southern Hemisphere. Midsummer and Yule, festivals of fire and of light. Let us then use our hearts and minds and words, invoking the fires of inspiration; let us write of the virtues and ethics and morals and values we have found in our Pagan paths, let us share how we carry these precious things forward in our own lives and out into the world. Join me, in the month of June 2009 in writing about Pagan values.
Source June 2009 as International Pagan Values Blogging Month
The morals and ethics espoused and lived by divergent Pagan individuals, groups and communities today are constructed on the same virtues valued by our collective ancestors, irrespective of religion, ethnicity or culture. Life is precious and must be preserved.
Despite our differences in belief and practice and in spite of the absence of any single unifying pagan theology or philosophy we Pagans share by default the same values treasured by every preceding generation. We all aspire to love and to caring for those we love.
Pagans everywhere share the desire to acquire and preserve individual and collective liberty. We jealously treasure our right to freedom of belief, religion, conscience and speech.
The quests for life, love and liberty lie at the heart of Pagan and neo-Pagan debates on origin, identity, definition, determination and authenticity. They challenge those to the left, centre and right of all political and religious dialogue, encouraging agreement and fueling disagreement.
Pagan values are human values. Collective human values such as equality, truth and justice inform our virtues and define the context within which we exercise our morals and ethics. Our compassion toward others (equality), our willingness to cooperate for mutual benefit (truth) and our generosity of spirit in permitting difference (justice), are among the common virtues that maintain the generation and survival of every species on our planet.
May the approaching fires of the Winter solstice and sunrise in the southern hemisphere and of the Summer Solstice in the north, beckon to the hearts and minds of every Pagan, whether reconstructionist or syncretic eclectic, to honour in remembrance the virtues of life, love, liberty, equality, truth and justice.
Simon Magagula (30)
Mamlothana Ndoda
Manqoma Novumile Tyebisa
Makhemu Ngema (65)
Mbhejile Sibiya (28)
Hlengiwe Ntuli (20)
Samukelisiwe Masikane (7)
Khanyisane Ngema (6)
Siyabonga Masikane (3)
Maria Ngcobo (76)
Amoni Mokoena (67)
Lina Magagula
Matome Molele (67)
Grace Chabalala (80)
Hlalaphi Malandula (45)
Mphatsi Mazibuko
August Micas Khoza (65)
Madudu Shandu (57)
Bongekile Zungu (59)
Ntombizanele Combo (45)
Sibulele Combo (6)
NONE of these victims were or are Witches!
This is by no means a complete list of victims of Witchcraft accusations in South Africa. Many reported cases do not mention the victim’s names. Most incidences of Witchcraft-related violence are not reported as Witch-hunts.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world!
South African law prohibits making accusations of Witchcraft.
But South African politicians keep making accusations of Witchcraft publicly on party-political platforms…
On 15 December 2008 Jacob Zuma, President of the African National Congress (ANC), addressing thousands of ANC supporters in Dan Qeqe stadium in Zwide, Port Elizabeth (Eastern Cape), called the leaders of the newly formed rival political party, the Congress of the People (COPE), Witches. “It is better when you have an enemy that you don't know. If you know the enemy, then it is more difficult. In Zulu we refer to a form of witchcraft called ukuphehla amanzi, where your enemy would mix dirt from your body in a calabash and stick a spear into the mixture to cause you sharp body pains. When the witch is a family member, we know that it's more dangerous than an enemy from outside." Zacob Zuma
On the same day, Ntombizanele Combo (45) and her grand daughter Sibulele Combo (6) were burned to death by two men in a Christmas day Witch-hunt in Timane village near Dutywa (Eastern Cape).
"Our mothers are taken, house to house, they are also paraded on TV, these people are performing witchcraft with our mothers....They are liars. You can't have respect for people who use older people in that fashion.” Tokyo Sexwale
January 2009. Sexwale was speaking at an ANC rally in Zwide township, outside Port Elizabeth.
The South African Press Code determines that the press should avoid discriminatory or denigratory references to people's religion and refrain from referring to a person's religion in a prejudicial or pejorative context.
When a border collie puppy, which had been buried alive with two spears inserted into its body, was discovered at Camps Drift near the Msunduzi River, The Witness reported that a well-known Imbali-based traditional healer Schoeman Xulu viewed the discovery as the worst form of witchcraft. Xulu is quoted as saying, “The perpetrators were trapping someone to death. Witches use black chickens and dogs and colourful candles to kill their targets. I feel sorry for whoever the practice was directed at." July 2008
When a traditional herbalist suspected his rival of being more popular than him, The Vaal Weekly reported the unnamed inyanga as saying "I have caught many witches here in my yard and you will be surprised who does these thing as these are usually trusted community members who become monsters at night... Evil exists, what that witch is doing to the child is evil and must be stopped as soon as possible, she is not an inyanga but a killer". August 2008.
But the South African press claims the right to defame Witches through negatively stereotyping Witchcraft by publishing fabricated hearsay as evidence.
The South African Bill of Rights prohibits hate speech against religious minorities.
But South African intellectuals promote hatred of Witches by defining them as a threat to society.
The Ralushai Commission’s report defined the term Witch to mean a person who …through sheer malice, either consciously or subconsciously, employs magical means to inflict all manner of evil on their fellow human beings. They destroy property, bring disease or misfortune and cause death, often entirely without provocation to satisfy their inherent craving for evil doing. 1995.
"A witch is a person who is endowed with powers of causing illness or ill luck or death to the person that he wants to destroy.“ Professor Ralushai. 1999.
The Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill define Witchcraft as …the secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powders, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property. 2007.
Throughout Africa Witches are feared and reviled.
In Malawi in March 2007 five children between the ages of 2 and 11 were found naked outside their home. It is reported the children claimed to have been involved in a witchcraft plane crash.
In Kenya in May 2008 Kenyan police arrested 86 people in connection with killing 11 elderly people suspected of being witches.
In 2008 and 2009 Nigerian Evangelical pastors accused hundreds of children of being Witches and increasing numbers of children are being forced to live on the streets as a result of being banished from their homes.
In January 2009 Tanzania banned Witchcraft.
In February 2009 Gambian authorities rounded up over 1,000 people and forced them to drink hallucinogens in a witch-hunt campaign.
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights declares that every human being shall be entitled to respect for his or her life and integrity of his or her person, and that all forms of exploitation and degradation shall be prohibited.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights guarantees that everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he or she has had all the guarantees necessary for his or her defense.
If you are a Witch, or accused of being a Witch in Africa, no matter what your human rights are, you will NOT receive a fair trial, you will NOT be afforded an opportunity to protest your innocence, and you WILL suffer the consequences of centuries of cultural and religious prejudice and fear against Witchcraft.
Witch-hunts are motivated by beliefs. Beliefs lead to action.
Beliefs that instill fear often motivate violence in response to a perceived threat, whether or not that threat is real of merely imagined.
Maintaining and reinforcing discriminatory and prejudicial definitions of Witchcraft promotes violence.
Prejudice against Witchcraft in Africa is motivated by cultural and religious beliefs that are based on false and defamatory urban legends.
Cultural practices and religious beliefs that promote the murder of innocents on the basis of belief must not be tolerated in any society!
Freedom of belief and religion does not mean freedom to falsely accuse and persecute others.
Those who use their beliefs to motivate or justify prejudice, discrimination, intimidation, assault, arson and murder against suspected Witches are guilty of crimes against humanity.
“Ubuntu is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them.” Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
WITCHES ARE PEOPLE!
In Africa the only people who use the word ‘Witch’ to define themselves are South African citizens who call their religion ‘Witchcraft’.
In South Africa Witches constitute a small but visible religious minority.
In 2007 a majority of South African Witches elected to reclaim the terms Witch and Witchcraft.
South African Witches define Witchcraft as a Pagan mystery religion that employs the use of sympathetic magic, ritual, herbalism and divination.
We demand our constitutional right to freedom of belief and religion.
We demand the right to live and work in safety.
We demand the right to equality and dignity.
30 days of Advocacy against Witch-hunts
29 March to April 27 2009
Speak out against religious discrimination and end Witchcraft-related Violence in Africa.
29 March to April 27 2009
Speak out against religious discrimination and end Witchcraft-related Violence in Africa.
Download a free copy of ‘A Pagan Witches TouchStone’.
PP Presentation 'Africa's Shameful Secret' prepared by Damon Leff on behalf of TouchStone Advocacy.
Penton Pagan Magazine devotes this entire issue to examining Witch-hunts in South Africa.
This TouchStone Advocacy campaign is supported by the South African Pagan Council and the South African Pagan Rights Alliance.
BLOGGERS
If you're an avid blogger and want to help spread the message of tolerance for Witchcraft please join this Advocacy Campaign and make your voice heard.
Here are the campaign guidelines for participant bloggers:
Topic: Witchcraft and Witch-hunts in Africa (including S.A.) - write anything you want on this subject
Reinforce the message: An end to Witch-hunts in Africa
Post: publish your blog between 29 March and 20 April 2009
Add-on: Please add the following text beneath your blog post:
- This blog is one of several participants of an advocacy campaign to end Witch-hunts in Africa. -
Link: Please link your blog post to http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=64
Forward Link: Please forward your published blog's title and url to TouchStone Advocacy
Maseko is recorded in the minutes of the Conference as saying,
We need to strive for unity. We need each other more than ever. This is a revolution. Join hands against the tribulation. Samora Machel said, “The act of liberating yourself is within you”. Be prepared to face tribulations. Who else can do it but yourselves? Stand up! Command your coming together to strategize. The People want you to come out. The challenge is to educate the public. We need to know we have sisters and brothers in you if you want us to walk with you. THO and Forum need to stand together! Remember that no legislation can stop you from believing in your belief. The 1957 Act never stopped us in our belief. Many were killed. Your blood will fertilize the struggle. Stand up. Fight to ensure that you are in control. The THO will go the journey with you. But we need to know you. We have come to understand that WC is positive in your belief. It means ‘wise’. From the African point of view it is the opposite. This was caused by the disparities of colonization, poverty, etc. You need to reclaim the word Witch. It is going to be a lot of work. The THO will support you in your definition of yourself. [1]
In September 2008 Maseko reaffirmed her undertaking on behalf of the THO, in front of representatives of the SA Law Reform Commission, Lawyers for Human Rights, the SA Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA) and the SA Pagan Council (SAPC), that traditional healers will no longer make accusations against Witches.
It therefore came as a surprise to members of SAPRA and the SAPC when in an article entitled 'Muti killings up ahead of 2010?' by Tshwarelo eseng Mogakane and published on News24.com, Maseko is reported to have stated the following with regard to human mutilations,
Traditional Healers Organisation (THO) national co-ordinator Phephisile Maseko was reluctant to comment on the report. "I can't speak for others, but our members are well-informed. They would never participate in muti killings and don't believe in it. We heal, we don't kill," she said. "I have heard reports of muti killings but I have never personally seen it. Those who do that are witches who don't belong to any organisation. They haven't been trained so they do as they please," she said. [2]
Given the alarming prevalence of Witchcraft violence in South Africa in 1995 the Ralushai Commission and several successive national and regional Conferences since 1995, recommended encouraging Traditional healers to “emphasise the curative and preventative aspect of medicine, instead of pointing out so-called witches.”
When challenged by SAPRA to honour her committment to refrain from making further accusations against Witches, Maseko stated in correspondence to SAPRA,
"I know i have loosely used this name but it was local language interview which is loosely translated to witch in english. This had nothing to do with your organisation neither its members but a lot to condemn this practice (muti murders) which is mistaken to be a profession associated to us." [3]
In response, SAPRA reminded Maseko that the general public do not understand the language nuance and would most likely accept the written word as fact, and therefore, will accept that Maseko had told them, in her capacity as a healer, that solitary Witches are indeed responsible for muti murders.
The prejudice of traditional healers against Witches is reaffirmed in a document published on the THO's website. The following quote, written in English, still appears on the website of the THO, despite the THO having twice undertaken not to make accusations against Witches, and despite SAPRA having requested in 2008 that this document be edited to remove any reference to Witchcraft or Witches.
"People still confuse witchcraft – the abuse of the gifts God has given to cause harm, or influence another’s life and energies, to their own benefit – with THs. A true Healer cannot take part in any action that can harm or negatively influence another person." [4]
Existing evidence will show that the 'muti' murderers themselves are not Witches, but are most often criminals paid by unscrupulous and unregistered traditional healers (who do not self-define as Witches) to harvest human body parts and tissue. [5]
Traditional healers, afraid that they too might become the object of the witch-hunter's gaze might in private acknowledge that every South African has the right to freedom of belief, but dare not publicly defend the right of Witches to be presumed innocent before being condemned.
References:
[1] Phephsile Maseko, National Coordinator and Spokesperson for the Traditional Healers Organisation (THO) - SAPC Pagan Conference Minutes. Melville. September 2007
[2] Muti killings up ahead of 2010? (March 2009)
[3] Phephsile Maseko (THO)
Correspondence from THO to SAPRA dated 13 March 2009
[4] Why are People Embarrassed and Afraid?
[5] Recorded cases of 'muti murders' indicating traditional healers, NOT Witches, as being responsible:
4 KZN women shot dead
20/05/2007 18:48 - (SA)
Genitals, tongue removed
Muti victim owes R200 000
23/08/2006 21:17 - (SA)
'Muti-murder' bishop gets bail
25/05/2006 16:32 - (SA)
Riot Hlatshwayo and Wilson Dzebu
Muti murder: Bishop in court
03/05/2006 13:45 - (SA)
Riot Hlatshwayo
Media statement on the release of the report of the Task Team on ritual murders in Limpopo
26 October 2006
Suspect (84) in muti murder case denied bail
Article By: Wilson Dzebu
Date: 09 December 2005
"Doctors of Death" spend Christmas in jail
Article By:
Date: 13 January 2006
The original legend can be found on the following two sites, and no-where else!
Way of the Rede
which was cited from ...
The Tricky Witchy Society
quote:
WARLOCK - The word is a derivative from the old Viking word and quite literally means "Protector of the Law". In 923, during the reign of king Rollo of the Vikings, queen Poppa, dismayed at the misinterpretation of Viking law, called together a group of judges whose task it was to travel throughout the Viking empire ensuring that the Law was correctly applied. She called these judges, her Warlocks. During the next 400 years, most of the Pagan religions had been absorbed by the advancing Christian doctrine. Only Witchcraft (Wicca) stood firm. In 1318 Pope John XXII declared Witchcraft to be heresy and punishable by death. The Warlocks now became defence attorneys for those accused of Witchcraft. In 1484 Pope Innocent VIII turned the fury of the Inquisition against Witches. The Warlocks defended them, with great success. Rome declared the Warlocks to be traitors to the Catholic faith. When the Warlocks argued that they could not be traitors because they had never been Christian to begin with, Pope Gregory XXIII declared them to be oath-breakers. In 1647 Matthew Hopkins was appointed Witchfinder General. Dismayed at the success achieved by the Warlocks, he determined to rid the world of Warlocks by declaring that "Only a Witch would defend a Witch", thereby insinuating that the Warlocks were actually male Witches. In the south of France alone, 52 000 Warlocks were executed. This left the Witches without defence. Then began the `Burning times'.
end quote.
Historical evidence shows that, far from being a Pagan, Poppa was a Christian.
quote:
A wife or mistress of Rollo of Normandy, and mother of Rollo's son and successor William "Longsword", her name is reported only by the often unreliable Dudo [ii, 16 (pp. 38-9); iii, 36 (p. 57)] and by sources depending on him (hence the quotes around her name). The only certain fact that is known about her comes from the contemporary (or nearly so) Planctus of her son William, which states (without naming her) that she was a Christian, and that her son William was born overseas. Poppa was said by Dudo [ii, 16 (pp. 38-9); iii, 36 (p. 57)] to be of Frankish origin, daughter of a certain count Bérenger. end quote.
http://sbaldw.home.mindspr
It is highly unlikely therefore that she organised male Witches (whom she is alledgedly said to have called Warlocks) to "travel throughout the Viking empire ensuring that the Law was correctly applied" ?
'Wicca' did not exist prior to the 1950's, so 'The Wicca' could not possibly have resisted the advance of Christianity in Europe.
Matthew Hopkins famously declared that "only a Witch would defend a Witch" in order to dismiss and prevent anyone from defending accused Witches. It was, in many countries, illegal to defend an accused against accusations of Witchcraft. Hopkins certainly never meant by that statement that actual 'Warlocks' were acting as defence counsel to accused Witches.
Actual historical record shows NO evidence of the murder of "52 000 Warlocks" in the south of France at any time during the 1600's, the period in which Hopkins and other Witch-finders operated.
The commonly accepted etymology derives the word 'warlock' from the Old English warloga meaning "oathbreaker" or "deceiver". A derivation from the Old Norse varð-lokkur, "caller of spirits" has also been suggested, however the Oxford English Dictionary considers this etymology inadmissible as there is no evidence to back it up. The Oxford English Dictionary also provides the following meanings of the word: Warlock v1 Obs. (ex. dial.) rare, also warloke: To secure (a horse) as with a fetterlock. Warlock v2: To bar against hostile invasion. (Wikipedia)
Those male Witches who do self-define as Warlocks will find their own justification for doing so. They certainly have every right to define as they please. This article should therefore not, in any way, be construed as an attack against this right to self-definition.
