The irony of disbelief: Why did HH jail 2 witch doctors for a ‘non-existent’ threat?
By Thandiwe Ketiš Ngoma
I RECENTLY came across a video clip showing Hakainde Hichilema stepping into an elevator. As he stepped inside, HH, whose political legitimacy remains fiercely contested across Zambia, boldly dismissed centuries of deeply held traditional beliefs, telling those around him in Nyanja: “Cheswa, Osayopa mfwiti kulibe mfwiti” (Don’t be afraid of witchcraft; there is no witchcraft).
On paper, it sounds like a modern leader trying to project rationalism and move the country past age-old fears. But watching that clip, a glaring, inescapable contradiction hit me, one that exposes the deep, undeniable hypocrisy surrounding the current regime.
The September 15 verdict: A direct contradiction
If HH truly believes that witchcraft is a complete myth with zero real-world power, how does he explain the actions of his own judicial apparatus?
On September 15, 2025, the Lusaka Magistrate’s Court sentenced two witch doctors, Leonard Phiri and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, to two years in prison with hard labour. Their high-profile crime? Plotting to use charms, dark rituals, and a live chameleon to physically harm or “kill” President Hichilema.
This raises a simple, logical question that HH’s public relations machine cannot answer: If witches do not exist, why did the state lock men up in maximum-security prison for trying to bewitch him?
The questions that leave HH exposed
When a leader’s public statements completely collide with his government’s enforcement actions, the entire narrative collapses. To truly understand how thoroughly President Hichilema has been exposed by this case, we must ask the hard questions his administration refuses to address:
- How did the police even know about these two men?
If traditional rituals and charms are nothing more than harmless, non-existent fairy tales, why were state intelligence and armed police tracking two men with a chameleon in the first place? Did state security deploy taxpayer-funded surveillance resources to hunt down a threat that the President publicly claims does not exist?
- Was HH himself the complainant?
When a case revolves entirely around an alleged plot to end the life of the Head of State, the legal machinery acts on his behalf. Was President Hichilema the direct complainant or victim named in this state prosecution? If so, how can he personally endorse a legal complaint accusing men of targeting him with ‘witchcraft’ while turning around to laugh off the existence of witchcraft in public?
- If he doesn’t believe in witchcraft, why are healers in prison because of him?
If HH genuinely holds the conviction that ‘kulibe mfwiti,’ then, in his mind, these two men possessed zero ability to cause him harm. Why, then, did his administration push for a full conviction and hard labour? Why wasn’t the case thrown out as absurd or dismissed as a harmless delusion? Why lock men behind bars for targeting him with something he claims has no power?
- Why excuse himself while weaponising the law?
While HH casually steps into elevators in Dubai, telling ordinary citizens not to fear traditional threats, his legal apparatus moved with speed to neutralise healers accused of pointing those exact charms at the presidency. Is witchcraft only fake when it affects ordinary Zambians, but real enough to warrant state prosecution when directed at State House?
The mask falls off
When a government preaches that an act is impossible, yet uses the full weight of state security to punish those who attempt it, it is not displaying logic; it is displaying political hypocrisy.
HH wants international observers to view him as an enlightened, modern reformer who sits far above traditional superstitions. Yet, the moment those practices target his power, his administration leans heavily on colonial-era statutes to throw citizens into prison.
The next time Hakainde Hichilema stands before a crowd or steps into an elevator to declare, ‘Osayopa mfwiti,’ Zambians have every right to hold him accountable. The public sees through the charade: either witchcraft is a non-existent myth and these two men are serving two years for a crime that doesn’t exist, or the President was terrified enough of their charms to lock them away.
