Witchcraft in South Africa

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 98, 27 April 1937, Page 7

Witchcraft in South Africa

NATIVE CHIEFS PUNISHED United Press Association —By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright. CAPETOWN, April 25. Bagahkametu, the divorced wife of Tshekedi, a chief, was fined £SO, in default one year’s imprisonment, and two witch doctors were fined £SO, in default one year’s imprisonment, and a third was discharged. The, district commissioner, in passing sentence, denounced the frequency of witchcraft, and declared that witch doctors were snakes exploiting the fears of people and their methods were tantamount to blackmail. It was reported last month that Tshekedi, suspended by Admiral Evans in 1933 because he ordered the flogging of a whiteman, had obtained a divorce on the ground of his wife’s infidelity. The case was heard by the British Resident Commissioner in Becliuanaland, instead of the suspected wife being turned cut into the jungle in accordance with tribal custom. Tshekedi declared that his wife had used love potions obtained from a witch doctor to attract, her lover. The wife denied visits to her “second husband,” saying, “He must have come like a breath of God, because I did not see him.” Tribesmen held up tho wife’s child to enable the court to see whether it resembled Tshekedi.