Tanzania ‘loses’ 500 witches annually

By Allan Olingo

So you think being a witch in Kisii is suicidal? Then you haven’t heard about Tanzania. Some 3000 people suspected of witchcraft, mainly old women, were lynched in Tanzania from 2005 to 2011, a leading local rights group the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) said.

“Between 2005 and 2011, around 3,000 people were lynched by frightened neighbours who thought they were witches,” the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) said in a report.

“On average, 500 people, particularly old women with red eyes, are killed every year in Tanzania because they are suspected of being witches,” the report said.

The provinces hardest hit are Mwanza and Shinyanga in the north of the country, LHRC said. This is not strange as the practice is slowly being incorporated in some areas of Coast province.

Beliefs

“In Shinyanga Province, for example, 242 people were killed because of local beliefs in witchcraft between January 2010 and January 2011 alone,” it said.

So how do they identify these ‘witches?”

The rights group explained that red eyes are feared as a sign of witchcraft, even if they in fact often result from the use of cow dung as cooking fuel in impoverished communities.

The centre said that many local people believe that witchcraft is behind every misfortune, from infertility and poverty to failure in business, famine and earthquakes.

Many victims were older women who had developed red eyes, which has long been considered a sign of witchcraft. Poor women in particular often develop red eyes as a result of burning cow dung for fuel as a substitute for firewood, researchers have found.

Soothsayers

Ignas Mtana, a spokesman for police in northwest Tanzania, says that women are often killed within a short period of time following the death of a relative. This is because many families visit soothsayers to determine the cause of death and are often told that witchcraft is responsible.

Emmanuel Uchawi, a member of a Tanzanian organisation working to protect the rights of the elderly in local communities, told the BBC that he believes education and development is important in preventing witchcraft related murders.

“You cannot separate witchcraft beliefs from the issue of development. The more developed people are, the less they believe in such things,” Uchawi said.

The use of low quality biomass fuels like cow dung cause indoor pollution, which is a hazard reflected in eyes turning red.