By Dickson Jere
A man in Kasempa died a sudden death after consuming alcohol the previous day. It was widely believed in the village that he was killed by witchcraft. So, on his burial day, his coffin was smeared with white powder and some concoctions in a tradition practice called “Kikondo” widely practiced in Northwestern province.
The coffin – it is believed – led the pallbearers to the houses of people responsible for his death. The crowd joined and meted out mob justice on two defenseless people in their houses and killed them instantly. They later buried the body after finishing the Kikondo practice.
However, two ring leaders were arrested and charged with murder. They were tried and found guilty of murder in the High Court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Unsatisfied, they appealed against the sentence saying the life imprisonment was harsh as they were “extenuating circumstances” that led to them killing the two suspected witches.
They argued that they believed the two practiced witchcraft and therefore should be killed as per Kikondo tradition. Therefore, the Court should have exercised leniency as belief in witchcraft is “defence” in Zambia for murder cases.
A full bench of the Supreme Court heard the case.
The Judges agreed that in the past, the belief in witchcraft in Zambia, was taken as “extenuating” in murder cases, which led to lighter sentences.
But should that continue?
“It is undeniable that a belief in witchcraft has been deeply entrenched in the Zambian psyche,” the Court noted.
“Perceived witches have in many of our communities been treated with untold violence and rough justice. Many of those accused of witchcraft have been ostracized by their families and communities, subjected to life threatening assaults, dehumanized…” the Judges observed.
Therefore, the Supreme Court, decided to change the law and held that those arrested for murder can no longer use the belief of witchcraft as “extenuating” factors to get lesser sentences.
“We are convinced that it is now right to depart from those precedents,” the Judges said.
“There is absolute need to protect victims of witchcraft accusations from unprovable allegations leading invariably to multiple violations of their rights, and in some cases death,” the Court ruled.
The Judges noted that elderly members of society have been victims of brutal murder on suspicion of being witches and yet the Witchcraft Act of Zambia proscribes naming of people as witches.
In this case, the Supreme Court replaced the life imprisonment with death as the appropriate punishment for the offenders. (Death sentence has since been abolished in Zambia).
Case citation – Kapeshi and Another v The People- SCZ Selected Judgment No. 35 of 2017.
Lecture Notes;
1. In this case, the Supreme Court changed the law, which accepted the belief of witchcraft as extenuating circumstances. The Court observed that it is legally and scientifically difficult to prove belief in witchcraft as evidence unlike provocation or intoxication, which are part of the defences of murder.
2. So this is warning for those involved in the practice of Kikondo.,once arrested, you will no longer plead the belief of witchcraft like in the past. The law has changed. Stop that primitive KIKONDO!!!