SA Pupils Burn "Witches" to Death - Political Forum

Izzibeth · 09-14-2007, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BBC News

SA pupils burn 'witches' to death

Two South African women have been burned to death after a group of students accused them of bewitching their high school with evil spirits.

Msaba Zungu and Thabitha Thusi, both 60, were seized from their homes near Manguzi in KwaZulu-Natal province.

Students and adults dragged them to a sports field where they were doused with petrol and set alight on Sunday.

Manhlenga High School pupils accused the women of being witches after they began to suffer strange crying fits.

Investigators said Ms Zungu died at the scene and Ms Thusi succumbed to her burns injuries on Monday.

Police captain Jabulani Mdletshe told the BBC News website: "On 17 August, the students at the mixed high school began to cry randomly and they did not know why.

"The students held a couple of meetings and allegedly decided the problem was these two women were witches who had cast a bad muthi (spell) on the school.

"At 8pm on Sunday, some students and community members allegedly took the women from their homes to a football field and set them on fire."

No arrests have been made but police are following a positive line of inquiry, said Capt Mdletshe.

South Africa... I don't know how to say this but.. there is NO SUCH THING as witches. I know it says in the Bible that you shall not "suffer a witch to live" but... well, again, I don't know what to say other than WITCHES are NOT REAL.

Somebody needs to teach these people some facts and show them a little bit of American history as well (just for fun). We've already been through this! There is no reason to let people remain ignorant when someone else has already been over the same stupid ordeal.

dkv · 09-14-2007, 02:14 PM

What a shame !
High school people are involved in this kind of act.
The society is having some kind of problem and the police and government should look into that.

africanhope · 09-15-2007, 06:31 AM

Izzibeth, this is not witches in the Christian sense, so teaching Us history will not help one bit. Witches is an English translation for something that has been around for centuries before the forst misionaries came here. It is a type of Sangoma, (witchdocter). This, also, is not something that is widespread and believed by the majoruty of South Africans. It is localised to the very rural areas, mostly the Northern Limpopo province, and then KwaZulu Natal province as in this story.

So it does happen, but rarely.

AH

Izzibeth · 09-15-2007, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by africanhope

Izzibeth, this is not witches in the Christian sense, so teaching Us history will not help one bit. Witches is an English translation for something that has been around for centuries before the forst misionaries came here. It is a type of Sangoma, (witchdocter). This, also, is not something that is widespread and believed by the majoruty of South Africans. It is localised to the very rural areas, mostly the Northern Limpopo province, and then KwaZulu Natal province as in this story.

So it does happen, but rarely.

AH

Ah, I was going to clarify that when I said "these people" I didn't mean South Africans in general. I meant those people involved. I started it off with "South Africa" since that is where it happened. So... that is honestly what I meant. I didn't mean to sound as if I were lumping all of South Africa into this one story so apologies.

Either way, it is a horrendous thing and whether or not it is in a Biblical sense.... witches don't exist. The fact that two people could still be burned to death in 2007 for "witchcraft" of any kind boggles my mind. I'm not sure how investigations go in small areas like that but something tells me that no one will get in trouble for what happened (especially because there were so many people involved). Just a needless and senseless way to die.

africanhope · 09-16-2007, 04:09 AM

On the contrary, government is quite heavy on these kind of things, but it is very sensitive, as the traditional leaders in these parts still have much power. But this is usually handled quite quickly and severlyby government (unlike some other crimes).

Thre is even a special police unit for this (which already is a bit weird), but they don't only investigate and catch, but also educate on this.

AH