Zimbabweans witches fly in baskets!

A HARARE magistrate has called in witchcraft experts after a Murehwa woman found NAKED outside her brother-in-law’s house in Highfield claimed she FLEW there in a winnowing basket with two others on a mission to kill him. (from newzimbabwe)

Refusing to take chances, Harare magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe said the woman should be remanded in custody just in case she “flies back to Murehwa”.

Guvamombe then told prison officers: “If she escapes, the Prison Service should explain.”

Experts from the Zimbabwe Traditional Healers Association (ZINATHA) were expected in court on Thursday to provide guidance on the bizarre case which is set to reignite a national debate on witchcraft.

The practice of witchcraft is illegal in Zimbabwe after witchcraft laws were changed in 2006. Under the colonial-era laws that existed before then, it was a crime to accuse anyone of practising witchcraft.

New laws say anyone accusing another individual of witchcraft must show proof of their allegations. The Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act 2004 says judicial officers can rely on expert evidence “as to whether the practice that forms the subject of a charge… is a practice that is commonly associated with witchcraft.”

The spirit of Nongqawuse is with us today! "Pssstt... Kill your cattle... The MDC and the white man will turn into grasshoppers and mice and swept into the sea by a big wind... New cattle will issue forth from the soil and the farms will grow wheat and maize and tobacco and... " It is incredible that the magistrate would play along. He must BELIEVE. Add in that the "experts" are coming to give evidence.... this "witch" is in trouble. What constitutes proof of witchcraft? Perhaps TRIAL BY DROWNING? This is getting very close to waterboarding... Perhaps a simple stripsearch will reveal her WITCHES TEAT - an unnatural protuberance (usually in the armpit or in the crotch) that was insensitive when pricked?

"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" Exodus 22:18