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Earlier this week we heard about a new law in Swaziland that bans witches from flying
on their broomsticks above 150 meters. Now if your reaction was anything like ours you're
probably laughing right now. How could you set an arbitrary limit on something that just
simply doesn't happen at all? How do you enforce the law? But when we began to think about
witchcraft in Africa it is infact a serious problem. A leaked diplomatic cable from Wikileaks
release, Cablegate shows that King Mswati of Swaziland is obsessed with witchcraft and
it could be a reason for why the economy there is failing so badly. So it doesn't just happen
out in the rural areas, belief in witchcraft goes right to the top. Belief in witchcraft
also can affect people's health. In Swaziland there was a program to have men circumcised
because there is some evidence to suggest that circumcision can reduce the rate of the
*** infection by up to 66% but men refuse to have this done because they are worried
about their hoods ending up in the hands of witch doctors who hunt out body parts for
their witchcraft.
Then there's the very real problem of violence against those who have been accused of witchcraft
and the harvesting of body parts. There have been some horrific cases in Kenya where people
accused of witchcraft were beaten with sticks and burned alive.
Then there are cases in Swaziland and Tanzania and other countries in which albinos have
been attacked by groups of people harvesting body parts. This boy had three fingers removed
and there have been other incidents that have resulted in death. Albinos are a specific
target because of a widespread belief that charms that are made from their body parts
bring good fortune and prosperity.
It's also a major problem in Ghana where elderly women are usually the target so we spoke to
an author about witchcraft in Ghana about the issue there.
"I would say that most of the population currently believe in witchcraft. Not everybody acts
on that belief, the problem is when people actually start accusing women of being witches
and then what happens to them is the real problem. Psychologists look into it and say
something goes wrong with someone, if they become ill or if a family member, a child
dies, psychologically we want to blame someone for it. We want to be able to explain it to
ourselves. We want to understand it and in Ghana and other places in Africa it comes
out oh well it must have been a witch that did this. It's usually women who are elderly
possibly because they're seen as less useful to society, very often it's widows.
And it can be any kind of accusation, you know, it can be something like you know you
cursed me. I'm lucky, I saw you in my dream and you were a witch. Last year a woman was
set on fire in Ghana and killed because she was accused of being a witch. There have been
women who have been beaten up and forced to flee, forced to run with nothing basically
just the clothes on their backs.
The witch camps are quite a phenomenon with Ghana. Basically what happens is people think
that once the women are inside these camps and they're around 6 camps plastered around
northern Ghana. They think that once they're in these camps, they are kind of made safe.
They can't practice their powers anymore. You don't end up in a witch camp unless you've
been chased there. Nobody wants to live in a camp which is not your home, very basic
facilities. The numbers have varied all the time I think at the moment we think there
are about 1500. Some of them have been there for as long as 40 years. Some of them are
just are never able to go home. Action Aid staff travel to the community they try to
talk to the community and say look this woman isn't a witch she's a widow, she doesn't have
any of these powers that you think. It's quite a long process. Obviously re-educating doesn't
happen over night.
We want to hear your thoughts about witchcraft in Africa. If you want to learn more there's
a link to the Action Aid report in the description. There's also a link through to a full film
about the problem of albino persecution in Africa. As ever click subscribe if you haven't
already check out some of our other videos and leave us your comments. We'll see you
guys again next time.