TWO expatriates in the field of witch-finding are languishing behind bars after Police in Mbala district arrested them for plying their trade illegally.

Costa Magembe aged 40 and his 31-year-old compatriot Willard Simfukwe travelled from neighbouring Tanzania to Mbala, in Northern Province at the invitation of local headmen to help identify individuals that busied themselves with malicious black magic after dusk, when law-abiding mortals were asleep.

Unknown to the two East African men was that the Zambia Police have for a long time been working to end activities of witchfinders as they led to savage mob killings as well as overzealous persecution of innocent people, especially the elderly.

Taking advantage of their superstitious beliefs, Magembe and Simfukwe gathered villagers as they invoked their spirits to identify the village witches and wizards.

However, before they could point at anyone, alert police officers arrived and disrupted the ceremony after which they captured the two expatriates.

Police deputy spokesperson Danny Mwale confirmed the arrest of the two Tanzanian witch-finders as well as two headmen he said had sanctioned their work.

Mwale identified the headmen as Kapelele Emmanuel aged 62 of Mpande village and Samson Zulu aged 72 of Zambia compound.

“They are all detained in Police custody charged with various offences under the Witchcraft Act chapter 90 of the Laws of Zambia,” revealed Mwale in a statement to Kalemba.

Kalemba March 1, 2022