WITCHCRAFT by Claire Evans

You may be forgiven for thinking that the nature of crime is recessing through the centuries. If it was not surprising enough to hear that pirates were still active, we have now had witchcraft hit the headlines. Magalie Bamu and Eric Bikubi were recently sentenced for the torture and murder of Magalie’s 15 year old brother Kristy on Christmas Day 2010 after accusing him and his sisters of witchcraft. The family hail from the Congo, where witchcraft (or kindoki) practices are very common. In the Congo alone, tens of thousands of children have been

beaten and tortured. The lucky ones are thrown out of their homes. The less fortunate can be killed. Although this is now illegal, only a handful of cases have been prosecuted, and exorcisms regularly take place in churches, especially in the slums. Many have criticized the pastors for taking advantage of the less fortunate and uneducated people in the poorer areas, but they are quick to defend themselves and claim that the deliverances are free, and those that have been delivered choose to give whatever they can. Whatever the truth, is it a very profitable business. The belief is such a strong part of people’s lives, which they do not think to question the pastors. Even well educated people have fallen victim to accusations of witchcraft, with one man Thomas Makola who is a fully qualified lawyer, admitting to beating his son after being told that the reason he lost his job was due to his son being possessed. He now knows that he was conned as the pastors are in it for the money, but is quick to express that there are a legitimate number out there. In South Africa, there are often stories in the news of witch doctors (or Sangoma) who have conned people out of money. For example, in January this year there was a report of a man who was contacted by a Sangoma after selling his house in order to bless the money, which was then stolen. A similar story is that of a lady who took a lottery ticket to a Sangoma to bless. She won, and the Sangoma ended up disappearing with both the ticket, and the money. Here in the UK, opinion has been mixed. One lady of Kenyan origin called a radio show to talk about her father visiting a Kenyan witch doctor in order to obtain a cure for his stroke, and she said she knows a large number of people who have asked to be rich, and ended up with money. The radio host responded the witch doctor must have a queue 400 miles long! Again here it is not just uneducated people who share the beliefs. A scientist of Indian origin is quick to say that it is all a con, but a British scientist with a PhD in Genomics admitted that not only does she believed in the practices, but that she herself was once possessed. She lived in Kenya for a short amount of time, and claims the witch doctor she visited there has cures for diabetes and cancer. So what does this mean going forward? With the NHS in turmoil over the recent reforms, should we just get rid of it altogether and implement regulated herbal miracle cures? If drinking a potion made of sticks and twigs can cure cancer, why waste so much money on expensive medical research? If this practice is adopted mainstream, then that can remove the elements of the rogue conmen surely?  The South African Sangoma are these days likened to homeopaths, which as increasingly popular form of medicine these days. Is this the same thing as mainstream witchcraft?  Are we likely to see a surge of independent churches setting up to preach these practices? The areas they appear in Africa are those where there are low incomes and high unemployment levels. Isn’t that the current state of the UK? Wasn’t that arguably a cause of the recent riots? How do you go about regulating churches, when they cannot be regulated? Do you take away their rights to receive donations? You may think that even if these churches do start to appear, the UK would never inflict pain on people for the benefit of cleansing. Well, it may surprise you to know that people suffering from manic depression are still being admitted into psychiatric hospitals to receive electroconvulsive therapy, which can leave patients in pain and vomiting. How close can you draw the line between this and an exorcism? Looking back at the Bamu case, the sentencing judge said: “The belief in witchcraft, however genuine, cannot excuse an assault to another person, let alone the killing of another human being." Once upon a time in British history, it used to be. We need to be very careful that we ensure our society continually move forwards, not backwards.