Witchcraft killings still a scourge across southern Africa

Witchcraft cases heard in several countries, some as recently as last month, again put the spotlight on this serious problem. As usual, victims tend to be elderly, called out as witches because of some personal or community problem for which they are blamed. Perhaps the worst – in that it involved the greatest number of deaths – took place in Kenya where four elderly women were murdered by a crowd that believed the four were involving in making a young woman ‘walk at night’. Carmel Rickard takes a look at some recent court cases involving witchcraft, in eSwatini, Kenya, SA and Zambia, and at an important report on the subject issued by a Kenyan human rights organisation last year. Read more in Rickard's A Matter of Justice column on the Legalbrief site.