The Director of Public
Prosecution’s office in Swaziland has told witchdoctors in the kingdom to stop
murdering people for body parts.
The witchdoctors, also
known as tinyanga, were advised to go to the Ministry of Health for body parts,
such as bones.
There have been ongoing
concerns in Swaziland that people, especially those with albinism, have been
targeted. Witchdoctors use the body parts to make spells that they claim bring
people good luck. Their services are
especially sought after by candidates contesting parliamentary and local
elections. Sport teams have also been known to use spells to bring them good
fortune during matches.
Macebo Nxumalo from the
Director of Public Prosecutions told members of the Tinyanga Association, meeting
in Manzini on Thursday (26 January 2017) witchdoctors who needed human bones
must visit the ministry of health and see if they cannot get help there, the Swazi Observer newspaper reported.
During the national
elections in Swaziland in 2013, people with albinism lived in fear that their
body parts would be harvested by candidates seeking good luck.
Independent Newspapers in
South Africa reported
at the time, ‘In the past
albinos, who lack the skin pigment melanin, as well as epileptics have been
specifically targeted, prompting the police to set up registries.
‘In 2010, the killing and
mutilation of albinos, including in one instance the decapitation of two
children in Nhlangano, prompted panic.’
In August 2013, Independent Newspapers quoted an academic at the University of Swaziland, who
did not want to be named, saying, ‘Ritual killings to achieve elected office
are a natural outgrowth of a government based not on rationality or democratic
principles but on superstitious beliefs.
‘The Swazi king claims
power through an annual Incwala festival where a bull is brutally sacrificed
and mysterious rituals occur, and this sets the tone. No one knows how
office-holders are appointed in Swaziland. It’s all done in secret, without
recourse to merit or any rhyme or reason, so this fuels irrational beliefs.
‘Ritual murder has long
been part of Swazi life.’
See also
SWAZI ALBINOS DEMAND GOVT PROTECTION
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