Attacks on the elderly continue

Gabison William, 91, has heaped himself on a dusty floor in his crudely constructed mud house. His fading eyes are fixed on the sunset rays that are faintly illuminating through yawning gaps of wooden window panes.

At his age, the sunset may as well symbolise what he is now—a man at the tail end of his long journey on earth. On his own admission, his fervent prayer is that his death is as peaceful as a calm sea.

He has every reason to get worried for he stay in village head Katchire’s area, Traditional Authority (T/A) Mkukula in Dowa where an elderly man was recently killed following accusations that he was practising witchcraft.

Says William: “As an elderly person, you obviously get scared when you hear stories of older people being violently killed because of witchcraft accusations. No one wants to die a violent, painful death.”

He recalls some distant neighbours calling him a wizard on several occasions, but each time he dismissed the accusations as unfounded.

“Of course, the accusations haven’t been that intense but sometimes they make you feel it could get worse and you could get killed,” William reflects.

Attacks on the elderly have been rife in the country despite the arrest of perpetrators. The country’s laws criminalise witchcraft accusations, one of the major reasons behind attacks against the elderly.

Eight elderly people have already been killed in connection with witchcraft this year, according to the Malawi Network of Older Persons Organisations (Manepo).

While police did not immediately provide data related to the deaths, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) says 60 elderly persons have been killed in the past two years following witchcraft accusations.

The law enforcers argue that they are tackling the problem through arrests and setting up a network of spies to foil planned killings, but human rights campaigners accuse the government of doing little to end the crimes and punish the culprits.

In an interview on Wednesday, national Police spokesperson James Kadadzera said the police have been arresting people suspected of killing the elderly, adding the move has helped to trigger fear among would-be offenders.

He said they are now focusing on strengthening the community police’s ability to detect plans to attack the elderly.

Said Kadadzera: “This is being done in collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department. This system is working as we have managed to foil many evil plans.

“In almost all the deaths, we have managed to arrest the suspects. This has not only led to punishments but it has also been a lesson to the public that such crimes will not go unpunished.”

However, CHRR executive director Michael Kaiyatsa argues that much as arrests are made, prosecution for most of the cases has stagnated.

“If anything, the failed and delayed prosecutions means the public will not be afraid of carrying out violent attacks against the elderly,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

CHRR, alongside Centre for the Development of People (Cedep), is managing a programme in 10 districts to address violence based on witchcraft accusations by raising awareness and systematic human rights documentation.

The two organisations recently wrote the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Inspector General of Police to express their dissatisfaction with the delay in prosecutions.

“In the last two years alone, CHRR and Cedep have documented over 60 cases of killings based on witchcraft accusations. Even though there have been some arrests, no one has been prosecuted for these crimes,” reads the letter dated 20 August, 2021.

“Considering the brutality of these crimes, we had expected the Police and your office to act expeditiously to arrest and bring perpetrators to justice so as to deter others who might be inclined to commit similar crimes in the future.

“As organisations, we have previously raised concerns about these issues, but apparently there is no change. It is against this background that we write your office for immediate intervention.”

In the interview, Kaiyatsa further accused the government of being slow to review the Witchcraft Act of 1968 which he also believes triggers the killings.

He specified having problems with Section 4 which sanctions the arrest and sentencing of anyone who accuses another person of being a witch.

“This law makes people fear reporting to Police anyone they suspect to be a witch. As a result, they end up taking the law in their hands. If we scrap this Section, people will be reporting witchcraft suspects to Police and that will help to save the life of the accused,” he said.

Meanwhile, Manepo country director Andrew Kavala has expressed concern over the continued attacks on the elderly. He also faulted the country’s laws, describing them as the weak link in the fight against the killings.

He said: “One of the reasons Manepo has been advocating for the amendment of the Witchcraft Act, specifically for the repeal of Section 6, is that law enforcement officers, often with their own beliefs in the existence of witchcraft, fail to implement Section 4 of the Act which allows them to arrest and sentence anyone who accuses another person of being a witch.

“Instead, Section 6 of the Act is often erroneously used by the justice administration structure to arrest and convict victims of witchcraft-based accusations. That part of legislation states that arrests can be made based on a confession to an accusation of witchcraft.

“It has been discovered that, in most cases, older men and women are often made to confess under duress when they do not understand the seriousness of the charges against them.”

The Malawi Law Commission last year held a Witchcraft Act review meeting where legal, human rights and traditional doctors made their recommendations.

Asked about the progress on the Act’s amendment processes, the commission’s deputy law reform officer Robert Kandulu said there has been good progress on the programme and that they are finalising the process.

“The commission has lined up meetings in November with a view to finalising its report and presenting the final findings and recommendations to the media,” he said.

However, Kandulu could not be drawn to disclose which reforms they have been focusing on.

He explained: “Law reform is a consultative process, therefore, there is no final position until the report is published. On that basis, we cannot divulge any position of the commission because it may change at any time before the report is published where necessitating circumstances arise.”