from ARNOLD MULENGA in Lusaka, Zambia
Zambia Bureau
LUSAKA, (CAJ News) – IN a bizarre courtroom drama that has gripped Zambia, two men have been jailed for allegedly trying to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.
Leonard Phiri, a Zambian, and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, a Mozambican, were busted with chilling “tools of the trade” – charms and even a live chameleon – which they claimed could bring down the head of state.
But Magistrate Fine Mayambu wasn’t buying it. “The convicts were not only enemies of the president but enemies of all Zambians,” he thundered as he slapped them with a two-year jail term under the colonial-era Witchcraft Act.
The case has made headlines because it’s the first time anyone has stood trial for attempting to use sorcery against a sitting Zambian president.
Prosecutors said the men were hired by a fugitive ex-MP to target Hichilema. In court, Phiri even demonstrated how a pricked chameleon’s tail could allegedly kill within five days.
Their lawyer begged for a fine instead of jail, calling them first-time offenders, but the judge refused. The men will serve two years behind bars from the date of their arrest last December.
Though witchcraft is widely believed in Zambia, Hichilema himself has said he doesn’t believe in it. He has kept mum on the bizarre case.
The ruling comes as witchcraft chatter swirls around the disputed burial of former president Edgar Lungu, with some even accusing government of occult motives – claims it strongly denies.
– CAJ News