Price of surviving witchcraft-linked attacks

Christina Chiwoko, 56, escaped death by a whisker after an irate mob attacked her.

She was almost buried alive last December for allegedly killing her sister through witchcraft.

Chiwoko’s wounds might have healed, but her physical and emotional scars are still fresh. And, so, is her ‘grave’.

Dug across a path leading to a graveyard dotted with white and grey tombstones, the grave is, in its lifelessness, still yawning.

“What was on my mind that day was I would be killed, and sadly, by my own people.  I don’t practise witchcraft. That is what hurts more,” she told Nation on Sunday on Wednesday.

Originally from Mwanza Village, Traditional Authority Chiwere in Dowa District, Chiwoko fled to Nkhotakota District after the incident.

A police report issued in January, reveals that villagers confronted and locked her up while they dug a grave to bury her alive alongside the sister’s remains.

 A video clip that ricocheted around social media shows her buried up to the neck while her accusers fiercely fired accusations.

Police rescued her after a tip-off.

Chiwoko’s yawning and vacant grave is not as deep as the prescribed two-metre for guiltless tombs.

However, it portrays her current status—emptiness and destitution.

She is homeless as her home, a mud-brick hut, was charred to ruins.

“I fled to Nkhotakota where I am staying with a relative alongside my three children. The relative isn’t well to do and we lack basic needs,” she said

And, the mob did not spare her crops.  Her farm is a strip of barrenness, clearly foretelling the tormenting period of famine that lies ahead of her

“I lost food and clothes when my house was torched. Life feels meaningless,” Chiwoko says as her hazel eyes lightly fill and clear as she blinks.

Her pain is exacerbated by the lack of psychological or material help from government or any other source.

She recalled a cancelled trip by the Minister of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare Jean Sendeza who promised in January to cheer her.

“It hurts that she didn’t visit. Her visit would have been a relief to me, an assurance that the witchcraft-accused like myself are also humans,” she lamented.

Dowa Police Station spokesperson Alice Sitima told Nation on Sunday that they have arrested Pilirani Chelumani, 29, as the rest of suspects are on the run.

“I wish to see my accusers and tormenters arrested and successfully prosecuted,” Chiwoko cried out.

While she was lucky to survive, others died after they were attacked over witchcraft accusations, a practice which the country’s laws do not recognise.

The law only punishes perpetrators.

But that does not seem to be a deterrent as sorcery accusations and attacks continue.

According to the Malawi Network of Older Persons (Manepo), 25 elders were killed in 2023 on witchcraft accusations, while 56 were harassed in various ways.

Manepo executive director Andrew Kavala said, like Chiwoko, many survivors rarely get support from the government or elsewhere.

“If this woman was victimised in that manner, her house torched and crops destroyed, she has nothing to rely on and no one is being held accountable. It means we are not doing enough to support the survivors or protect the elderly from such attacks,” he said.

Kavala also condemned the country’s justice system which does not pursue cases related to attacks against the elderly.

“Doing enough would mean justice for victims. These cases die natural deaths. There is something wrong with the justice delivery system,” he argued.

As the elderly struggle to piece their lives together after losing property following witchcraft-linked attacks, Kavala says focus should be on tightening the laws to stop the attacks.

He banks his hopes on the Elderly Bill which the Ministry of Justice is expected to table during the current sitting of Parliament.

The Bill, among other things, propagates stiffer penalties against those perpetrating older persons’ abuse.

Ministry of Gender, Community Development and Social Welfare spokesperson Pauline Kaude said financial challenges hinder their support of survivors.

“We have follow-up visits to investigate and also support victims,” she said.

On the minister’s cancelled meeting with Chiwoko, she said her whereabouts after her hospital discharge, were unknown at the time.

“Subject to availability of resources, we plan interface meetings with chiefs and community members from the area,” she said.