Join the South African Pagan Rights Alliance and its members as we review the historical facts and contemporary human rights abuses against victims of accusation of witchcraft, international advocacy against accusations of witch-hunts globally, and legislative reform against witchcraft suppression legislation in South Africa by this Alliance.
World Day against Witch-hunts
10 August 2024
Philisiwe Zuma (33), Thubelihle Shezi (24), and Mazwi Lembethe (23), were recently found guilty of double murder and arson and were sentenced by the Greytown Regional Court to life.
The South African Pagan Rights Alliance wishes to thank the Greytown Regional Court for not accepting a ‘witchcraft belief defence’ in mitigation of sentencing in this case.
The consideration of a belief in “witchcraft” as a mitigating factor in sentencing is wholly inappropriate as this will not discourage further accusations of witchcraft or witch-hunts. The purpose of sentencing must be deterrence. Our courts must never lend credence to the perpetrators unproveable “beliefs” that motivate violence against victims of witchcraft accusation.
February 2024. An 85-year-old woman and her 90-year-old husband lost their lives on 12 February 2024, after their home became the alleged target of an arson attack. “The exact cause of the fire is still to be confirmed, and we are following up on all information. We are aware of the allegations of witchcraft, and this motive is still to be confirmed.” Captain Sipho Nkosi
’30 Days of Advocacy against Witchcraft Accusations and Witch-hunts’ – 29 March to 27 April.
https://paganrightsalliance.org/advocacy/
Touchstone Advocacy (on Facebook)
https://www.facebook.com/TouchstoneAdvocacy/
In March 2023 the Pan-African Parliament released its “Guidelines on Accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks: towards eliminating harmful practices and other human rights violations” at the joint sittings of the Committee on Gender, Youth, Family and People with Disability, the Committee on Health, Labour and Social Affairs, and the Committee on Education, Culture, Tourism, and Human Resources at the PAP headquarters in Midrand, South Africa.
We would like to thank formal SAPRA members, and international supporters, for their unwavering support for this campaign to end witch-hunts in South Africa. Thank you. We note that there have been no reports of witch-hunts in our country since 2021. We will continue to closely monitor published news reports to ensure that accusations of witchcraft never ever lead to witch-hunts in South Africa again.
The United Nations Human Rights Council’s draft resolution 47 entitled “Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks” finally, although indirectly only, acknowledges that Witchcraft is not the mischief requiring regulation or prohibition. The draft correctly identifies the true harm requiring remedy; the human rights abuses which flow from accusations of witchcraft.
We honour Leo Igwe for his own successful campaigns against “child witchcraft accusations” in Nigeria.
We accept that his campaigns seek to deny the existence of Witches and Witchcraft; a natural consequence of his atheism. Our own campaigns in South Africa do not seek to deny the fact that real Witches do exist. We admit that navigating the thin line between religious identity and prejudicial accusation is always frought with difficulty.
During Human Rights Month – 21 March to 27 April – the South African Pagan Rights Alliance will be launching its annual ’30 Days of Advocacy against Witchcraft Accusations and Witch-hunts’ on 29 March 2021. If you would like to support this campaign, share links to our advocacy web-page and our Facebook page ‘Touchstone Advocacy’, and share our advocacy banner as your profile image.
On Sunday morning, 15 March, an unnamed 83 year old woman and her 23 year old granddaughter became the first reported victims of witchcraft accusation in 2020. The grandmother was drowned by her assailants in a drum of water. Her granddaughter narrowly escaped being burned alive. The perpetrators alleged that the grandmother was guilty of bewitching a young man who was buried the day before in Majuba Village, Sterkspruit, in the Eastern Cape. These victims are the latest in a very long and growing list of individuals and families who have become scapegoats for unmerited blame in South Africa.
The South African Pagan Rights Alliance is deeply troubled by Pastor Mboro Motsoeneng’s public prejudicial incitement against witches and witchcraft. Timeslive reported on 5 June that Incredible Happenings Ministries’ Pastor Paseka Mboro Motsoeneng “intends on ending the ‘witches’ honeymoon” in SA by
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The Fight to End “Witch-hunts” Continues14 April 2019 | By Star BustamonteThe Wild Hunt. Every year, the South African Pagan Rights Alliance Touchstone Advocacy runs a 30 day campaign to end “witch-hunts” and the accusations of “witchcraft” in South Africa. This year,
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Sunday Times interview on refugees of witch-hunts. Helena, the desolate exile, has become known as the ‘place of witches’Trauma never dies for ‘sorcerers’ cast out of their homes14 April 2019 | by Jeff WicksIn the village of Helena – a forgotten dumping
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Sunday Times interview on the review of the Witchcraft Suppression Act. The decriminalisation of ‘harmless witchcraft’ to be realised in the near future?14 April 2019 | By Sipokazi FokaziSunday Times.
Campaign against witchcraft accusations and witch-hunts in South Africa from 29 March to 7 April. Advocacy against human rights abuses committed as a result of accusations of witchcraft and violent witch-hunts.https://www.paganrightsalliance.org/advocacy/ Remember their namesVictims of witch-hunts in South Africa 2000 to 2018.https://www.paganrightsalliance.org/remember-their-names/
A consideration of the ethical responsibility of journalists when reporting on accusations of witchcraft in South Africa. Download a free .pdf copy Accusations of witchcraft are not protected under the constitutional rights to freedom of religion, belief and opinion, or expression. An
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SAPRA frequently receives e-mails from concerned individuals alleging that their mother, or family member, has been accused of witchcraft, by members of their community. It is important to remember that accusations of witchcraft are almost never based on evidence, and invariably lead
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The United Nations Human Rights Council hosted the very first two day workshop on witchcraft-related human rights violations in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21 and 22 September. The workshop brought together over a hundred U.N. experts, academics and members of civil society from
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The United Nations Human Rights Council hosted the very first two day workshop on witchcraft-related human rights violations in Geneva, Switzerland, on 21 and 22 September. The South African Pagan Rights Alliance was invited to attend this event. The workshop brought together over
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. Advocacy against human rights abuses committed as a result of accusations of witchcraft and violent witch-hunts The ’30 days of advocacy against witch-hunts campaign’ was launched in March 2008 under the banner of Touchstone Advocacy, in response to ongoing accusations of witchcraft and
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In January 2009 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a working report on human rights abuses committed as a result of witchcraft accusations. “An extensive literature review of journal articles, UNHCR internal documents and newspapers has shown that
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The investigation of accusations of witchcraft and witch-hunts falls under the ambit of the Occult-related Crime Unit, until fairly recently, a poorly constituted special branch of the South African Police Services staffed by evangelical Christians who believe that ‘witchcraft’ constitutes evidence
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South Africa faces a growing refugee crisis as victims of witchcraft accusation who either survive assault or are expelled from their communities by community leaders, traditional leaders and traditional healers, after being tried in traditional courts and found guilty through divination,
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Witch-hunts are an internationally recognised epidemic throughout Africa. Although witch-hunts have historically been viewed as gender specific, with a large percentage of victims still identified as elderly and solitary women, a 2009 report by Yaseen Ally entitled Witch Hunts In Modern South
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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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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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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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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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South African Witches object strongly to inflammatory and offensive accusations of “witchcraft” uttered by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula and ANC provincial secretary Songezo Mjongile at the Lusaka Community Hall in Nyanga on 7 April. “This thing of witchcraft is when a witch does nothing for
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Witch-hunts in South AfricaAdvocacy against human rights abuses committed as a result of accusations of witchcraft and violent witch-hunts (2014)by Damon Leff Download the complete document in.pdf format (1.82 MB) ABSTRACT The test of Nelson Mandela’s legacy will be marked by how
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