TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 3

Chapter 2

Subsection 28

WITCHCRAFT APPLICATIONS 1990–1994

259. While the Amnesty Committee did not initially consider witchcraft to be a political matter, closer study and expert input made it clear that many of these cases were embedded in a political context. As elsewhere in South Africa, issues of local significance intersected with and were in many ways inextricably locked into national political expression and activity. The motives for the decision to hold a special hearing on witchcraft are argued in the Amnesty section in this volume .^{1 6 7}

260. In 1979 Venda, the epicentre of witch-hunting cases, became an ‘independent’ homeland under Chief Patrick Mphephu, later declared President for Life. After his death in April 1988, he was succeeded by Chief Frank Ravele, who ruled until he was ousted in a military coup in April 1990.

261. The period 1988 to 1990 saw an escalation of political unrest and mobilisation in Venda. Much of the protest against the Venda authorities centred around the issue of ritual killings, in which those in power were believed to be implicated. Officials such as cabinet ministers, directors-general and chiefs were alleged to have used ritual murders to achieve their prestige and fortune. Thus ritual killings were a source of both social and political discontent.

262. Professor VN Ralushai, who testified as an expert witness at the Thohoyandou witchcraft amnesty hearings which took place from 8 to 19 May 2000, defined a witch in the context of Northern Transvaal beliefs as ‘a person who is believed to be endowed with powers of causing illness or ill luck or death to the person that he wants to destroy’.

263. The February 1990 lifting of the ban on the liberation movements and the release of Mr Nelson Mandela precipitated an extensive mobilisation of youth, who embarked on a number of activities to express their opposition to the old order in Venda. Apartheid legislation had largely transformed traditional leaders into political functionaries who were seen not only as corrupt and self-serving but also as lackeys of the apartheid regime. Accusations of witchcraft were used to destabilise the Ravele government and to focus political protest in an effort to root out traditional superstitious beliefs. Mr Rogers Khathushelo Ramasitsi [AM2723/96] testified as follows at the Thoyohandou hearing on 12 July 1999:

The time [Mandela] was released, I still remember every feeling of the youth here in Venda, particularly in our region, there was a general feeling that we have to be f ree and that freedom was to come through our contribution … In the urban areas the youth were involved in many things to render the country ungovernable as such. So in the rural areas there came to be a time when things were n ’t going right, as I can say.

264. Part of this wave of political energy was expressed in attacks and attempts to expel suspected witches. Belief in witches, wizards and related supernatural occurrences had long formed part of the fabric of rural Venda life. The association of witches with the political order had politicised the issue. Supporters of the liberation movement in areas where witchcraft was prevalent regarded the chiefs and traditional leaders as the protectors of witchcraft. At the same hearing, Mr David Makana Nemakhavani [AM2725/96] testified that:

Well we actually wanted to evict these people from our village because … those who were ruling were in the old order and as such the central government would then be able to realise that we were not pleased with the way the old order was behaving.

265. Fifty-four individuals submitted applications in respect of twenty-one incidents or attacks linked to witchcraft. All of the incidents took place in the period 1990 to 1994. Of the twenty-one incidents, fourteen took place in Venda, two in the KwaNdebele homeland, one in Gazankulu, three in Lebowa and one in the Eastern Transvaal. Thirteen of the fourteen Venda incidents took place between February and April 1990, shortly after the unbanning of the ANC and other organisations . These applications covered some forty-eight separate acts, including thirty-two killings and three attempted killings or injuries and twenty-three arson attacks on homesteads and kraals. Of the deceased victims, eighteen were female and fourteen were male. Fifteen applicants were refused amnesty in respect of twenty acts – that is, sixteen killings, three cases of arson and one attempted killing. The remaining twenty-eight applications were all granted.

266. The large crowds that took up witch-hunting between February and April 1990 consisted mainly of youth. The majority of the victims were female. In scores of villages in Venda, people accused of engaging in witchcraft were burnt or stoned to death. Others were injured, lost their homes in arson attacks or were forced to flee to distant safe havens. Most of these killings took place in the most remote rural areas of Venda rather than the more urbanised areas of Thohoyandou or Sibasa. The Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and Ritual Murders in the Northern Province of the Republic of South Africa¹⁶⁸ reports thirty-six registered cases of ‘witch killings’ in Venda in 1990 alone. A smaller number of attacks took place in other predominantly rural Northern Transvaal homelands such as Lebowa and Gazankulu.

267. Several amnesty applicants, residents of remote rural Venda villages, explained that, through their actions, they sought to emulate the progressive protest activities of their urban counterparts and shed the label of rural backwardness. In this way, they aimed to contribute to the national democratic struggle. At the Thoyohandou hearing, Mr Ramitsi said:

During that time, it was the time that everyone said that there was a quest for f reedom, so there came to be a time when we had to strategise so as to be inform with those ‘comrades’ in the urban area. As I still re member, our ‘comrades’ in the urban areas were involved in rent boycotts, consumer boycotts, strikes and all the likes, whereas here in the rural areas there were no such things, soth e re came to be a time when we thought that for us to contribute in our struggle, we have to remove such obstacles that were making it difficult for us to be fre e as such, as everybody was thinking that now Mandela is out, we are going to be f ree.

In the rural villages it was different from urban areas. In the rural areas we grew up with the belief that there are witches surrounding us. They are people who have the power to practice supernatural powers that we cannot see by our naked eyes … So sometimes you found that they were jealous, they inflict diseases on other people, they are causing death to other people. They were crippling people somehow, so they felt that before we get this freedom we are talking about, we must be free of ills amongst us, that’s why we said that those witches have to be eliminated before we get that freedom because it is no use getting freed o m with obstacles on our doorsteps.

268. Twelve members of the Mavungha Youth Organisation¹⁶⁹ applied for amnesty for the killing of Mr Edward Mavhunga which took place in the Mavhunga are a , Venda, on 6 April 1990. Mr Mavhunga was a member of a high-profile family in the area, related to the headman and linked to government. During the celebrations and political activity that followed the unbanning of the ANC and the release of Mandela, he interfered with youth activities and was believed to have been involved in the stoning and beating of youth gathered at a meeting. Villa g e residents called for him to be expelled from the area but he refused to leave. As a consequence, a crowd of thousands of residents descended on his homestead. He was stoned and burnt to death. Amnesty was granted to the twelve applicants [AC/2000/094].