Never-ending barbarism
It is ridiculous that over two decades into the 21st century, we are still talking about the elderly being brutally murdered by idiots who accuse them of practising witchcraft after failing to find answers to some things that happen in life.
It is normal for certain elements of life to be inexplicable.
That does not mean we should force ourselves to bring in strange beliefs and conclusions, some of which end up taking lives of others.
Why should someone be accused of being a witch simply because they have been blessed with a long life?
And why is it that it is often elder men and women in rural areas who find themselves at the receiving end of senseless accusations of witchcraft?
While the witchcraft debate is a controversial one, we have to remember that death happens and will happen to everyone.
Laws clearly guide this country on witchcraft: It is illegal for someone to accuse another of being a witch or practising witchcraft, let alone claiming to be a witch or practising witchcraft.
Many innocent men and women have been brutally murdered by those accusing them of practising witchcraft.
What is really disappointing is that sometimes the attacks happen in full view of traditional leaders who were supposed to be the protectors of the most vulnerable people in their locations.
In the minds of many Malawians there should be that image of a woman who was knocked into an open grave in Mzimba after she was accused of having killed her daughter-in-law through magic.
It is one of those depressing experiences that the elderly go through in this country masked as the Warm Heart of Africa.
Those who are lucky to survive the attacks live with trauma for the rest of their lives with some of them still being threatened by their attackers way after the dust appears to have settled.
Some, like the Mzimba woman, are forced out of their homes because they do not feel safe anymore. They move to locations where they often become strangers and live very unsteady lives.
They are victims of the wicked acts of their barbaric kinsmen and kinswomen who descend on them without a modicum of proof for their accusations.
Sometimes the people who attack elderly men and women after accusing them of practising witchcraft are their own relations who were supposed to be their biggest protectors.
They kick their grannies out of their homes on premises they cannot even prove.
In essence, the elderly are the wells of wisdom we must all learn from. We cannot be attacking them simply because of their age or locations.
Every human being has the potential of growing old. Even those who exact their brutal attacks on the elderly might one day attain that age and will realise there is no conclusion that someone becomes a witch after growing old.
Government, through the Ministry of Gender, must do something about the senseless brutal attacks on the elderly. They cannot continue living in fear in their own country just because they are of advanced years.
It is sad that what we often hear from authorities are statements of “shock” at the attacks without anything tangible happening to stop them.
Right now, there is a century-long Witchcraft Act that we are still using as a country. There was no serious attempt to come up with something new until recently when conversations around the subject appeared to have become serious.
Perhaps, if we had a new law in place, it would help in ending some of these absurd attacks on the elderly that we keep recording.
The biggest problem we have in this country is that we become frantic about doing something when a crisis is in our midst. When the crisis ends, we sit back, fold our hands and forget everything.
But at least on the attacks on the elderly on witchcraft accusations must spur us into some serious action. Authorities must remember that victims of the foolish brutality are some people’s family.
Their relations are left terribly traumatised and hurt by the painful attacks which seem normal until they reach your home.
The barbarism must end!
At least in some instances, the police swiftly do their job by apprehending the idiots who brutalise the elderly on witchcraft allegations.
Of course, there are other instances where justice is never served. The attackers continue living normal lives because law enforcers are apparently afraid of angering a whole village.
Alick Ponje is a features writer at The Times Group. He graduated from the University of Malawi with a bachelor’s degree in education, majoring in literature in English. Follow him on Twitter @aponje
