LAW & MAGIC: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE LAW AND BLACK MAGIC. The Witchcraft Suppression Act
- chrisdikane
- Sep 6, 2024
- 10 min read
During a car ride, with the sounds of our voices exchanging sentences, my women and I conversed on the subject related to witching and wizardry. Ukuloya as it is referred to in our mother tongue. We spoke about the belief surrounding black magic, its impact on reality, and how the use of black magic to murder someone can be dependent on how real said black magic is perceived by the target of the magic-the workings of black magic is dependent on the belief of the target person( that was the sentiment of my lady & and she made a case for it by her advocacy of how as person you possess immeasurable power within yourself). Finally, we spoke about the existence of a statute called the Witchcraft Suppression Act. As a legal field centred mind, I could not help but bring up such an act. I told her "it used to exist". But i was wrong, The Witchcraft Suppresion Act is "alive and kicking" and is part of South Africa's legal framework. There are offence the law has created which recognise the existence of witchcraft as a thing that has a real life physical impact on the integrity of a persons physical existence. The recognition witchcraft by the law made me wonder on how something which we can perceive such as the law, is able to regulates something outside our field of vision, which exists in the "spiritual realm" as witchcraft. There isnt a science behind witchcraft, there isnt a full, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, proof that black magic is a real thing. The law to my understanding is set to govern order in the relationships that exist in the physical realm of society. A realm of society wherein the natural laws of physics and logic applies. Witchcraft as a subject is something which is outside the physical realm of society subject to the laws of physics and logic.
In this writing we will take an analysis trip through the Witchcraft suppression act and a written court judgements so that we see whether we can understand better the relationship between the law and Witchcraft & Wizardry.
(Excuse me, but i will be making a couple of reference to the harry potter movies- LUMOS)
When multiple people cry wolf a number of times, that is usually a cause of concerns and is worthy of being attended to. I suspect thats what happened with the witchcraft suppression act, black magic allegation were flying around too much for the legislature to remain silent. And also I further suspect that, the coming into existence of the act was a means to stops the killings of persons who had the scarlet letter "witch" imputed on them, because the human race as far as it goes, have always held witch hunts for persons who are just accused on practising the dark arts. It did not even need to be a fact, an accusation was enough to cause such uproars from communities. The witchcraft suppression act, does seem, its invisible purpose, was to act as a buffer between dark arts practitioners and the community ready to exercise mob justice. So there you have it, that's my interpretation of why I think the Witchcraft suppression act came into existence( ofcourse further research still to be done)
The purpose of the Witchcraft Suppression act is to "provide for the suppression of witchcraft and similar practices"
The statute document is a short document that outlines the acts which would be regards as offences for the purpose of suppressing witchcraft and other dark magic practices, outlined in section 1. Then it provides for a presumption in section 2.
Section 1: Offences relating to the practice of witchcraft and similar practices
There are six acts regarded as offences in terms of the act. These six acts, should you be found guilty of committing, the punishment ranges from fines to 20 years imprisonments. I have read a case where someone got life imprisonment ( but that was given out because of the murder the dude committed on account of believing someone is a dark magician-also I think the gruesomeness of the murder was actually what led to the imposition of life imprisonment- we will be looking at that case shortly)
The six following acts are regarded as offences for purposes of the Witchcraft suppression act:
a) The first act, which caught me by supprise as i didnt know it could be something that lends you in jail is that, its an offence, punishable by imprisonment of 20 years to impute to any other person the causing, by supernatural means, of any disease or injury or damage to any person or thing, or who names or indicates any other person as a wizard.
Basically, the provision informs us that its an offence to say that someone used avader kadabra ( that a spell first introduced in the critically acclaimed film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) to cause a disease, injury or damages to someone. In short, its an offence to call someone a witch or wizard and that could lend you into the type of trouble that you would think you have been bewitched.
b) The second act regarded as an offence is that " any person who in circumstances indicating that he professes or pretends to use any supernatural power, witchcraft, sorcery, enhantment or conjuration, imputes the cause of death, injury or grief to, disease in, damage to or dissappearance of any person or thing to any other person".
I read this and i was confused myself but i get it now. So basically its an offence to profess or advertise yourself to be the next Dumbledoor. 20 years imprisonment has your name should you be found saying that you use supernatural power; witchcraft; sorcery; enchantment or conjuration. Even where you pretend to be using such dark arts, trouble can follow you as provided for in the Witchcraft suppression act.
For the two abovementioned acts, the offence activates as an offence punishable where person accused of being a witch is killed due to another person spouting their mouth, or where accused person is provided to be witchdoctor or witch finder due to their habits or reputes.
Okay, i might need to read further on this because there is no ways one can be punished by the stick of the law due to being a witchdoctor. I am assuming witchdoctor is an overaching terms that covers, traditional healer, izinyanga, sangomas etc........ i am not even sure there is a difference between the 3 sub terms to witchdoctor.
Wait i got it, so i think its okay to be a witchdoctor. Where the law draws the line is when you are found to be using the witchdoctery ( not sure if its a real word) to be up to no good.
c) Third act labelled to be an offence is that " any person who employs or solicits any witchdoctor, witchfinder or any other person to name or indicate any person as a wizard is committing an offence. if found guilty of, punishable by a fine for exceeding five hundred rand or to imprisonment for period not exceeding five years, or if you unfortunate you could get both fine and imprisonment.
I probably read this like 3 to 8 times before I understood through interpreting the words, what it means, and to be honest, i still cannot believe it. So from a literal reading of the provision, it means that its offence to make use of the services of a witchdoctor in order to name or indicate any person as a wizard. Say your suspicions of someone has extended to the realm of believing that they are performing some non-muggle stuff on you. but because you are not sure on who they are, you approach your local witchdoctor to help you identify them. The witchcraft suppression act regards that as an offence, and you can be punished for that.
Like how does this work? where would law enforcement even begin to prosecute such?
So yes, to remain safe out there, its illegal to employ or solicit any witchdoctor to help you find a wizard.
d) The fourth act regarded as an offence as outlined in the act is similar to the second act. The fourth act provides that " any person who professes a knowledge of witchcraft, or the use of charms, and advises any person how to bewitch, injure or damage any person, or supplies any person with any pretended means of witchcraft:
Lets break it down, because this one is for all you professionals out there who have advertised your services or are known to be nice with the "muthi". So this act stipulates that it's an offence to deem yourself knowledgeable in the arts of witchcraft, in the use of charms. It further provides that it's a no no as per the precepts of the law to advise people on how to bewitch other people. Lastly, it provides that it's a recipe for trouble to supply any person with means to witchcraft. The provision says you cannot supply any person with "pretended means of witchcraft". So I am guessing it's okay to supply means of witchcraft as long as its not found to be some fake stuff that does not work in achieving the goal of bewitching.
Again, What?? . But this is not me, this is what the law is supposedly saying from the literal reading of its provision.
Again, to be safe, do not profess to be knowledgeable on witchcraft and the use of charms. Do not advise anyone on how to bewitch, injure or damage other people. Lastly do not supply fake stuff, and pass it off as means to witchcraft.
e) The fith act regarded as an offence in terms of the Witchcraft suppression act is that " any one who on the advice of any witchdoctor, witchfinder or other person or on the ground of any pretended knowledge of witchcraft, uses or causes to be put into operation any means or process, which, in accordance with such advice or his own belief, is calculated to injure or damage any person or thing
You cannot act on the advise of a witchdoctor, witchfinder, another person or on ground of any pretended knowledge of witchcraft, use or cause to be put into operation any means or process which is calculated to injure or damager a person or a thing.
This offence carries punishment of a fine not exceeding five hundred or a term of imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. Or its could be both.
f) The last act regarded as an offence is the act wherein the person, for gain pretends to exercise or use any supernatural power, witchcraft, sorcery, enchantments or conjuration or undertakes to tell fortunes or pretends from his skill in or knowledge of occult science to discover where and in what manner anything supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found.
Here is the thing, its an offence to say that you know these different dark arts; magic and speaking to the ancestors for purposes of financial gain, yet you cant deliver on the service you are selling. Its wrong and its punishment carries fine not exceeding two hundred rand or a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years.
Those are the offences as per the Witchcraft Suppression Act. Should you read this and happene to be involved in the arts, i would recommend you get familiar with this act , Witchcraft Suppression Act, so that you can practice within the bounds of the law.
It does not seem that the act criminalizes traditional spirituality and so forth, i think its purposes is to curb and alleviate the bad impacts of bad intentional witching and wizardrying in society. You can witch and wizard, you have the constitutional right to choose your trade, occupation and profession freeling, just dont do it in a manner that can bring disrepute to the fabric of society and peoples lives. Practice it for good.
Just real quick, let me tell you about this case where we see the application of the Witchcraft Suppression Act at Play.
The life imprisonment sentence in this case, wasnt for the contravention of the Witchcraft Suppression Act, but was due to how gruesom the offence that was committed by the accused was.
So it went like this.
We will refer to the accused as Mr T and we will refer to the stae as the state.
The events of this case happened between the months september and december 2022. It all began when Mr T took a trip to Eastern Cape from Cape town and stayed with his brother and brothers wife. He gets hold and he is welcomed with news about his younger brother being sick. He grew up with his brother, so bonds run deep. Despite all his efforts to helping his little brother, his conditioned worsened, especially in November 2022.
With the worsening of condition, and no solution on sight from western scientific means, Mr T had only one belief on what might be the cause of his brother illness, Witchcraft from his Aunt. Mr T believed his Aunt was responsible for his brother condition in that she had bewitched him.
During the december festivities, the day of the event came and it was not so festive. There was a traditional soiree at the house. Liquor was drank, whiskeys and wines were mixed and types of drunk got felt. Mr T went hard on the brown, purple and transparent bottle and got hammered. The intoxication reaching all high levels, the mouth started to spout, and Mr T, directly accused his Aunt of casting spells on his brother and being the cause for his brother condition. I assume nothing was thought of it at the time, by the party participants because later, once the party concluded, the Aunt went with Mr T to the house as Mr T offered her a place to sleep that night. During the walk, formulated the decision of murder and took that decision by assaulting the aunt with a panga-like weapan ( suspect a rambo knife) and she died from several strikes to her head. Post mortem came back with the result of her death being as a result of Traumatic head injury.
Dude was put in handcuffs sent to prison awaiting trial and upon the conclusion of the trial, he was found guilty and convicted of murder and the contravention of section 1(a) read with section 2 of the Witchcraft suppression act 1957.
He got 20 years for the contravention the Witchcraft suppression act and life imprisonment for the murder.
The offence he was found guilty off, which got him the 20 years was the offence of naming or indicating that any other person is a wizard/witch to which such accusation lead to the death of a person.
This is a perfect illustration that there is laws that are ready to punish for involvement in witchcraft and wizardry. This isnt hogwarts, you can get locked up for this, in particular where it has negative impacts on the community.
CONCLUSION:
I can conclude that the relationship between the law and black magic, lies in the impacts which black magic acts produce. It seems that the law frowns more upon the practice of the darks arts to do bad, to cause death or to decieve others for financial gain. Witchcraft is a real thing because it exists in the minds of the people, and therefore it is deserving of legislatures attention to regulate its negatives impacts in society.
Disclaimer
The views and opinion expressed are those of my own, based on my own experiences and my subjective interpretation of the subject matter. They are not authority nor should they be construed to be authority. Do your research, read further, gain knowledge and do what you want with it. Non of the views expressed herein are legal advice. Always seek a legal practitioner for your legal problems. All views expressed are views founded on opinion and subjective perspective. ITS NOT AUTHORITY.
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