Witch-hunts are illegal and must be condemned Damon Leff | 23 March 2012 | Mail & Guardian Witch-hunts are common in Africa. Historically, they have been viewed as gender specific because a large number of the victims have been elderly, solitary women,
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In South Africa witches are incorrectly believed to be responsible for human mutilations, often referred to by the media as ‘muti murders’. African traditions ascribe supernatural properties to medicines (muti / muthi) derived from both plant and animal sources. In extreme
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2017 Director’s Report The future of the South African Pagan Rights Alliance SAPRA, a community-based organization, was formed in 2004 as a faith-based (Pagan) human rights activist alliance. In recent years, SAPRA has assumed the mantle of a formal non-governmental organization, and
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According to the preliminary report of the CRL Commission following the hearings on ‘Commercialization of Religion and abuse of peoples belief systems’, the Commission has proposed that all religion and religious organizations in South Africa should be regulated by legislation. According to
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The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has published the draft of the Prevention and Combating of Hate Crimes and Hate Speech Bill for public comment. “The Bill provides for the offence of hate crimes and the offence of hate speech and
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Can Pagans take paid leave for religious holidays? The short answer is, probably not. Whilst the celebration of religious holidays by members of any and all religions (including Paganism, Wicca and Witchcraft) is entirely legal and protected under the Constitution, employers are
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Let the buyer beware! If you undertake to pay to attend a public weekend workshop on herbalism or a two week course on Wicca, examine the offer carefully before paying any deposit fee. A supplier (in this instance, the person offering a
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SAPRA Submission on the National Action Plan to combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance Submitted to Ms. Danaline Franzman, Chief Director: Social Justice and Participatory Democracy, Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on 30 August 2016. The South African Pagan
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SAPRA sometimes receives requests for assistance from Pagans who believe they have been unfairly dismissed from their employment because of their religion. If you feel that you have been unfairly dismissed, what should you know, and what can you do to receive
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“Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically
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Custody – the protective care or guardianship of someone… “A custodial parent is a parent who is given physical and/or legal custody of a child by court order. A child-custody determination means a judgment, decree, or other order of a court providing for
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The Editor – Independent Online – www.iol.co.za The South African Pagan Rights Alliance strongly objects to the implied incitement of violence against independent candidates as “witches” by President Zacob Zuma. Zuma: Independents are treacherous witcheshttp://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/zuma-independents-are-treacherous-witches-2050163 Bongani Hans | 27 Jul 2016Durban –
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SAPRA will be hosting its 2016 AGM on Friday 8 July. This meeting will close on Monday 11 July to allow all formal members to attend and participate. * This meeting will be open to the general public. Where: SAPRA Facebook group –https://www.facebook.com/groups/sapaganrightsalliance/
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African witchcraft beliefs are said to be an inherent part of the cosmological and religious belief systems of African communities. The truth however is that allegations of “African witchcraft” are only ever used by accusers to slander innocent victims of prejudice. On
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South African Law Reform Commission Private Bag X 668 PRETORIA, 0001 For attention: State Law Advisor Ms Jennifer Joni Professor Marita Carnelley Professor David Bilchitz Dr Sibusiso Masondo Ms Likhapa Mbatha Prof Pitika Ntuli Prof Theodore Petrus Comment
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The new Issue Paper released by the South African Law Reform Commission has confirmed the following:a) the Witchcraft Suppression Act’s prohibition of identifying as a witch and professing knowledge of witchcraft is unconstitutional, and b) the Act’s prohibition of engaging in divination’s
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SAPRA has received an update from the South African Law Reform Commission, on the review of the Witchcraft Suppression Act. See: http://www.justice.gov.za/salrc/media/20160119-prj135-dp139-WitchcraftSuppression.pdf All stakeholders (existing or new) are invited to submit comment on the new draft PROHIBITION OF HARMFUL PRACTICES ASSOCIATED WITH WITCHCRAFT BELIEFS
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In the aftermath of the attacks on foreign nationals residing in South Africa, we at SAPRA, condemn the violence, discrimination and prejudice stemming from xenophobia. After years of campaigning against brutally violent witch-hunts in South Africa, we have come to recognize that
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In the Times LIVE article dated 7th June 2014, Harmful Religious practice and occult on the rise in SA, we see a lot of the same alarmist rhetoric. Claims are made that there is a rise in Occultism, Satanism and Vampirism and
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by Francisco Fumarola (SAPRA Executive Member) Some debate has been raised about why some South African Pagans consider Satanic Panic a non-issue, something that does not affect Pagans and that can be ignored. Naturally, I do not agree with this stance and
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