Law Commission stance on witchcraft stirs debate

Humanists in the country have swiftly moved to challenge the position made by a Special Law Commission, which is pushing for the recognition of the existence of witchcraft in Malawi.

The Special Law Commission on Tuesday evening announced findings and recommendations on the review of the Witchcraft Act of 1911 during an event at Sunbird Capital and has recommended a bill to Parliament to be enacted into law.

But this development has not gone down well with a grouping of people calling themselves Humanists Malawi, which contends that there is no strong basis for the position and stated fears that the recommendation will create a dilemma.

Representative of the group, Wonderful Mkutche, said it is wrong to have a law informed by a belief which is temporary, rather than something which is permanent and based on knowledge.

He said: “If witchcraft exists, it means there are witches. And then the practice is criminalised, meaning when caught, the perpetrators will be taken to court. Which evidence will be used since with witchcraft there is no evidence to it?”

The Humanists Malawi fear that should the position be upheld by Parliament, there will be an increase of cases of mob justice and, late alone, having a law that is retrogressive.

Mkutche said they will continue to follow developments on the issue, and has not ruled out a possibility of taking legal action.

“We are pushing for a law that does not recognise existence of witchcraft. We are pushing for the inclusion of religious leaders who claim that they know witches and criminalising all alleged suspects. That also leads to victimisation,” he said.

The Special Law Commission, which was chaired by Justice of Appeal Robert Chinangwa (Retired), said a majority of Malawians hold a belief in witchcraft and that people’s belief cannot be surpressed by legistlastion.

“The law must recognise the existence of witchcraft and failure to do so is failure to recognise what is happening in the society,” said the report.

The commission has defined witchcraft as ‘a supernatural art or unnatural act, use of magic, practiced within the spiritual realm, or in secret, in words or deeds for purpose of causing harm to a person or damage to property or death or misfortune or to incite fear or violence’.

The report says with regard to evidence of witchcraft, in line with people’s belief in witchcraft, it found that the Malawi Law Society has been flooded with reports on electronic and print media of incidences of witchcraft practices.

Together with the draft Bill, the report will be submitted to the ministry of Justice for presentation before cabinet. Later the bill will be presented before parliament as a government sponsored Bill.