INSIGHT: Witchcraft scene, story created to suit mindset

Dar es Salaam. I read in dismay a story about 37 Mbeya residents, who were arraigned recently for burying alive an 80 year-old man, Alison Mwaikasu, allegedly for bewitching his son Juma Mwaikasu, 46, from Mishewe Village.

But doctors from Ifisi Hospital, where the son was admitted, said the latter had died of stroke. A few months ago, another old man was buried alive over witchcraft allegations in Mbeya Region. He, too, was believed to have bewitched a relative, who died on the same day.

Last week, Nzalu Philipo, 66, escaped from being buried alive, but was assaulted after being accused of bewitching her grandson Huzuni Shaban, 22, who died at Mbeya Referral Hospital. Shaban was suffering from back and neck aches. So far, five suspected witches have been buried alive in Mbeya Region. This cruel and vindictive behaviour is likely to continue unless people change their mind-set.

These ugly episodes remind me of two cases from my home village a few years ago. Although there was nobody buried alive in the latter cases, a parent was believed to have bewitched the first born son in both cases.  In the first case, a young man died, while pursuing further studies in India, but at his home village, people started speculating that it was his mother, who had scarified him for a witches’ periodic ritual killing. It is commonly believed that to join a witches’ secret society, one has to sacrifice one’s own dear child, relative or friend.

The story went that the mother belonged to a witches’ secret society and it was her turn to offer her first born son for their ritual killing. Because of this, according to the story, fellow witches demanded the mother to sacrifice her first born son, who was so dear to her, as they had been doing, when it was their turn. This, the villagers said, was the cause of the young man’s death before he completed his studies in India.

In the second case, the son was suffering from diabetes and was on medication in Mwanza, where he was residing and working as a civil servant in the Works ministry. One day, his blood sugar level rose sharply and he fainted, while taking a shower.

He was then rushed to hospital, where the doctors confirmed he had died of diabetes. But in the village, where his body was later taken for burial, the story changed altogether. The husband started accusing his wife of bewitching his first born son. As  it was in the first case, the story went that the mother belonged to a witches’ secret society and it was her turn to offer her first born son, who was also the breadwinner of the family. To date, these two stories are among the most referred to witchcraft stories in my home village.

This is the environment in which I grew up, where almost daily there was a life threatening witchcraft story that instilled fear and speculation of the highest degree. But where there is fear and speculation, there is also suspicion, jealousy, anger, hatred and revenge. All these constitute what we call witchcraft, which is, according to me, nothing else, but a social control mechanism, which puts the blame of any misfortune on external causes, which is a scapegoat. In other words, for witchcraft stories to appeal to people’s mind-set and emotions there must be i) a person, ii) who is feared (apparent fear is enough and the fear is usually associated with a person’s physical appearance – it could be a natural or an accidental deformity or disability), iii) blamed and iv) suspected of causing misfortunes to others. This doesn’t mean that to be accused of witchcraft is necessarily to be a witch in practice. Mere subscription is usually enough to make people believe a certain person is a witch.

It only suits the people’s mind-set and emotions for it provides a palliative explanation for what has happened to restore the lost harmony in a family or a community. Now people “know” who is responsible for the disease outbreak in the village, for the thunderstorm that has destroyed crops and houses, for barrenness/impotency in the family, for the poor performance of a schoolchild, for the laying off of workers at a company, for the death of a villager due to old age or a newborn baby because of birth complications, for the fatal accident caused by reckless driving, for disqualification as a result of credential cheating, for a marriage breakdown due to matrimonial infidelity, for low crop yield due to prolonged drought, for giving birth to baby boys or girls only... the list is very long! All these could be blamed on an old man or woman-in the village-and they can be assaulted or killed.

Therefore, it only fits people’s mind-set and emotions to blame or accuse someone else of something they perceive as bad or something they are trying to overcome, but they haven’t managed. Whenever something bad happens it is blamed on this person, but nobody can honestly substantiate anything for usually the scene and story are constructed out of isolated facts that lack internal coherence. Even for the cases I have referred to above, none of the accusers can substantiate the allegations. For instance, who has ever seen and listened to witches discussing who to kill? Who has ever seen witches aboard a flying object? Who has ever witnessed bewitching of a person and how is it done?

Thus, in virtually all witchcraft stories, people tend to be uncritical and take for granted that whatever they are told is true. They, then, circulate it among their family members, friends or neighbours, who will also pass it on to their friends and their friends’ friends and in the end the story is believed to be true, while it is not.

It is just uncritical thinking causing us to take on board common speculations that make us blame and even assault or kill our brothers and sisters for what they are not responsible, while in all honesty we cannot substantiate anything. It is the same thinking making us kill people with albinism by falsely believing that possessing their body parts will make us rich. It is also the same thinking causing us to hate elderly people just because they happen to have red eyes, grey hair and dry skin and label them as witches and kill them, as it is often reported in the Lake Zone. 

In witchcraft, a scene and its associated story (like the witches’ meeting to decide, whose turn it’s to offer the first born daughter or son) are constructed in such a way that they appeal to people’s mind-set and emotions and because there is no critical or intelligent thinking, what is speculated is easily taken on board. So, believing anything anyhow without ascertaining it is what constitutes witchcraft, which often leads to mob justice - the assault and killing of our sisters and brothers out of mere suspicion.

Therefore, witchcraft is about sharing a common lie, which is made alive and passed on to others. The only way to overcome it is to appeal to rational thinking by only accepting something as true (as making sense) after we are well-informed about it and by believing that there is no human being, who possesses innate magical powers to harm other people and that only God has power over everything.