A Zambian court has sentenced two men to two years in prison with hard labour after finding them guilty of attempting to use witchcraft to assassinate President Hakainde Hichilema.
The convicts — 43-year-old Leonard Phiri, a Zambian, and 42-year-old Jasten Candunde, a Mozambican — were charged under a colonial-era witchcraft law dating back to 1914. The legislation criminalises pretending to exercise supernatural powers or using sorcery to cause fear, harm, or death, with penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment.
During the trial, prosecutors revealed that the men were caught with a live chameleon in a bottle, an animal tail, and 12 containers of mysterious concoctions, which they allegedly intended to use in a spell to kill the president. Investigators further claimed the pair had been hired by the brother of a former lawmaker to carry out the plot, giving the case a strong political undercurrent.
Police arrested the men in a Lusaka hotel last year after a cleaner reported hearing “strange noises” from their room. When confronted, they pleaded for leniency, but the magistrate ruled that their actions posed a direct threat to national security.
Although Zambia is constitutionally a Christian nation, traditional beliefs remain deeply rooted. A 2018 study by the Zambia Law Development Commission found that nearly eight in ten Zambians believe in witchcraft, a belief also widespread across much of Africa.
