A FEW months ago, the Lusaka Magistrates’ Court sentenced two traditional doctors to two years imprisonment for attempting to harm President Hakainde Hichilema using witchcraft. Leonard Phiri and a Mozambican, Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, were convicted under the 1914 Witchcraft Act after being arrested in December, 2024, with various charms including a live chameleon. Apart from this rare conviction of Phiri and Candunde, many Zambians, merely owing to their old age, especially in Southern Province have been killed on allegations that they practiced witchcraft. The Zambia Police was also treated to a Tom and Jerry kind of act, when former finance minister Dr Katele Kalumba allegedly used charms to elude police arrest for months but were later seized. During a visit...