Zambia jails two men over witchcraft plot to kill President Hichilema

A Zambian court has sentenced Leonard Phiri, a national, and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, a Mozambican, to two years behind bars for attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema.

The pair were arrested in December with charms including a live chameleon and later convicted under the Witchcraft Act.

Magistrate Fine Mayambu, who presided over the trial, made his position clear: 

"It is my considered view that the convicts were not only the enemy of the head of state but were also enemies of all Zambians."

The unusual case drew widespread public attention as it marked the first time individuals had faced trial for allegedly attempting to bewitch a sitting president.

Prosecutors argued that the two were contracted by a fugitive former MP to target Hichilema. Though Phiri and Candunde claimed they were practising as traditional healers, the court disagreed and convicted them on two counts.

According to the judge, "The two accepted ownership of the charms. Phiri further demonstrated that the chameleon's tail, once pricked and used in the ritual, would cause death to occur within five days."

Their lawyer, Agrippa Malando, pleaded for a lighter sentence, noting that they were first-time offenders and urging a fine instead of jail time. That appeal was rejected.

Magistrate Mayambu noted that many people in Zambia, like in other African countries, believed in witchcraft, even though it was not scientifically proven.

The law was designed to protect society from fear and harm caused by those claiming to have the power to carry out acts of witchcraft, he said.

"The question is not whether the accused are wizards or actually possess supernatural powers. It is whether they represented themselves as such, and the evidence clearly shows they did."

The men received two years for professing witchcraft and an additional six months for possessing charms, though both sentences will run concurrently. They will serve a total of two years, backdated to their December 2024 arrest.

President Hichilema, who has previously said he does not believe in witchcraft, has not commented on the trial.

Legal expert Dickson Jere explained that the Witchcraft Act, dating back to colonial rule in 1914, is seldom invoked. He noted that it was introduced partly to protect vulnerable people, particularly elderly women, from mob justice when accused of sorcery.

Meanwhile, the subject of witchcraft has surfaced in other national debates, including the ongoing dispute between the government and the family of late President Edgar Lungu regarding his burial. 

Allegations of “occult reasons” behind the state’s insistence that he be buried in Zambia have been denied by officials.

Lungu passed away in South Africa in June, and his body remains in a morgue as negotiations over his final resting place continue.