Hello Dale,
I would like to know what the book is please. I know of a lawyer in my
faculty who has had dealings with a current case under the Witchcraft Act -
a Ugandan woman, I believe. I'll go check it out.
Jane.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dale Wallace" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2005 6:26 AM
Subject: Re: grounding practice locally
> Jane said> Sorry - I've lost track of who said this - which country are
> you speaking
>> from? Can you give more detail at all?
>
> Jane, my name is Dale Wallace and I sent this in from South Africa. The
> Act I referred to below is an archaic piece of legislation from our
> colonial days. The Witchchraft Act survived through the apartheid
> decades, and has not been repealed by the African National Congress, even
> after 12 years of democracy. It's tone of denial of the reality of
> witchcraft has fueled witchcraft violence in many communities, as people
> have no recourse to the courts. There are enormous socio-political issues
> involved in the phenomenon, and all of the political regimes, current and
> past, have been inclined to use the Act to their own ends. There is one
> really fine local book on this if anyone is interested.
>
>>> Here we still have the
>>> > Witchcraft Act in place that
>>> > denies the reality of witchcraft, and rather than
>>> > prohibiting its practice,
>>> > makes it illegal to ACCUSE someone of practicing
>>> > witchcraft. People
>>> > therefore have no recourse to courts, and the law is
>>> > taken into their own
>>> > hands. There have been two witch burnings that I
>>> > know of in the past few
>>> > weeks - again in the similarity that most are women,
>>> > many are elderly,
>>> > infirm etc.
>>
>>
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