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 Zambian court jails two men for attempting to bewitch president

A court in Zambia has sentenced two men to two years in prison for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.

The BBC reports that Leonard Phiri, a Zambian, and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, a Mozambican, were convicted under the country’s Witchcraft Act after being arrested in December 2024.

The police said they were found in possession of assorted charms, including a live chameleon, and are alleged to be practising witchdoctors.

In his ruling, Fine Mayambu, the presiding judge, said the evidence showed the men intended to use the charms against the president.

“It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians,” Mayambu ruled.

The case, closely followed by the public, marked the first time anyone was put on trial in Zambia for attempting to use witchcraft against a sitting president.

The defendants were reportedly hired by a fugitive former lawmaker to bewitch Hichilema.

Despite claiming to be traditional healers, the court said the men admitted ownership of the charms.

“The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri further demonstrated that the chameleon’s tail, once pricked and used in the ritual, would cause death to occur within five days,” Mayambu said.

Agrippa Malando, who led the defence team, pleaded for leniency, arguing they were first-time offenders who should be fined. But the judge declined the request.

The judge said the Witchcraft Act, dating back to colonial rule in 1914, remains relevant to protect society from fear and harm caused by those who profess to wield supernatural powers.

The question is not whether the accused are wizards or actually possess supernatural powers. It is whether they represented themselves as such, and the evidence clearly shows they did,” he added.

The court handed the men two years for “professing” witchcraft and six months for possessing charms.

Since the sentences will run concurrently, they will serve two years, effective from their arrest in December 2024.

Dickson Jere, a lawyer, noted that prosecutions under the Witchcraft Act are rare.

Jere said the law was originally intended to protect vulnerable groups, particularly elderly women, from mob attacks after being accused of causing harm through witchcraft.

Witchcraft has also been at the centre of controversy in Zambia’s ongoing dispute over the burial of former President Edgar Lungu, who died in South Africa in June.

The government insists he should be buried in Zambia, against the wishes of his family — a position critics claim is linked to “occult reasons”.