Women Accused of Witchcraft Burnt in Congo

The NGO, the Association of Women in the Media, says they have recorded more than 300 accusations of witchcraft in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the past four months. Some of these allegations have apparently led to murder.

At least eight women were burnt or lynched in Congo’s South Kivu province in September where locals have gone on a “witch-hunting” rampage, according to the Guardian.

The province, which lies to the east of the country and consists of eight territories, has recently experienced a surge in “witchcraft” accusations.

In Kalehe territory, 114 reports of sorcery have been recorded by the Association of Women in the Media from June to September. Five of the women accused were burnt to death and another four were dragged away by local militias to unknown locations, according to the organisation.

An administrative chief of Kabare territory, another region of South Kivu, told the Guardian that six people have been killed there since the start of the year.

The official said that the majority of the murdered women were above the age of 60 and labelled as “witches” by local preachers known as ‘bajakazi’.

Bosco Muchukiwa, a sociology professor and director at the Higher Institute of Rural Development in Bukavu, the province’s capital, describe ‘bajakazi’ as self-styled physicians, mostly women, who believe that they are able to detect sorceresses.

“It’s false. They don’t have any powers but they play on the gullibility of the people they manipulate to attract more followers, pump up their reputation and gain more clout in the village,” Muchukiwa told the Guardian.

One activist told the media that he had witnessed a full-fledged witch-hunt only last month in Kalehe territory, with young men searching the township of Cifunzi with a list of “19 women above the age of 65 who had been designated witches by a prophetess”. A majority of these women are said to have been able to flee their homes that were later razed to the ground and others were saved by local troops.

Overall, the Association of Women in the Media said that they had recorded 324 instances of allegations of witchcraft between June and September in three districts of South Kivu.