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Today the Commission on Gender Equality launches the Witchcraft Violence Conference Report based on the findings of this landmark conference held in September last year. The report, which is being released in conjunction with the official opening of the Commission's offices in the Northern Province, indicates key areas for the eradication of violence associated with witchcraft accusations.

Witchcraft violence has been rife and increasing each year in the Northern Province. The victims have been those most vulnerable in any society: old men and women. Those accused with witchcraft have been faced with death, injury or exclusion from their communities. The Ralushai Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and Ritual Murders in the Northern Province (1995) has found that traditionally women were mostly accused of practising witchcraft, despite the fact that males were also victims of witchcraft burnings or purges. This has been corroborated by police statistics for the period 1st April 1994 - 16 February 1995: 97 females and 46 males were killed as a result of witchcraft accusations.

The Plan

The CGE took up this issue in 1998 and conducted further investigations, which led to the National Conference on Witchcraft Violence, the first of its kind in the province. The Commission is now leading stakeholders, identified at the conference, in the National Action Plan for the Eradication of Witchcraft Violence. The plan includes legislative reform, victim support, reintegration of victims into communities, reconciliation and public education programmes. The CGE will play a key role in monitoring the progress of all interventions in the province.

Commitments

The National Conference on Witchcraft Violence served as an eye-opener to structures that previously ignored the life-threatening effects of witchcraft violence on families and communities. Political parties, safety and security institutions, civic organisations, churches and labour movements committed themselves to stopping the violence with the adoption of the Thohoyandou Declaration on Ending Witchcraft Violence. Commitments also came from politicians, who committed government toward addressing these issues.

For more information please contact Kubeshni Govender (011) 403 7182 or 083 273 8428
To arrange on location interviews call Moeti Kgamanyane on 082 467 2817

Issued by the CGE Communications Unit, 29 March 1999