Witchcraft in South Africa

Witch hunts were a very big thing during the early ages of America. It consumed thousands of innocent people’s lives. Little do people know that witch hunts still consume thousands of lives in this lifetime. In South Africa, tons of people still believe in witches, since 1985 the witch related deaths have been in the high hundreds if not thousands. Some victims of witchcraft were Esther Rasesemola, who was run out of her village, and Linah Seabi, Francina Sebatsana, and Desia Mamafa.

62 year old Ester Rasesemola lived in a peaceful village, until one horrific day when lightening struck her village. Most of the village went to see Inkanga, the witchdoctor, to see who caused this tragedy. Esther’s brother-in-law accused her of being a witch, because he owed her money and he didn’t want to pay her back. Soon enough, the whole village was convinced Esther was a witch, and on one terrible night, the whole village raided her house, took all the belongings, and burned it down. She was expelled from the village and was told if she ever came back she would be killed.

Another victim of witchcraft was Linah Seabi, a beer brewer. When one of the village elders died, she was accused of giving her a poisonous potion. In late May 1991, more then a hundred villagers stormed her house, beat her, and burned her to death with a thatch from her roof. In the winter of 1998, Francina Sebatsana and Desia Mamafa were burned to death in the woods of Wydhoek for alleged witchcraft. Over 10 men from ages of 21-50 were charged with murder.

Just like the witchcraft trials of Salem, in South Africa people are still being accused of witchcraft over revenge. People are still calling each other witches so they don’t have to pay others back or because someone took something of theirs and never returned it. Most of the people in Africa being accused of witchcraft are still women. Just like in the olden times, people are still losing their lives over stupid, silly superstitions.

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