In a case that has gripped Zambia with shock and curiosity, a court has sentenced two men to prison for trying to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema. Magistrate Fine Mayambu handed down a two-year jail term to Zambian national Leonard Phiri and Mozambican Jasten Mabulesse Candunde after finding them guilty of professing witchcraft and possessing charms — including a live chameleon.
Prosecutors revealed the men were allegedly hired by a fugitive former MP to harm the president through occult means. In court, Phiri even demonstrated how a chameleon’s tail could supposedly be used in a deadly ritual. The magistrate, however, made it clear that the issue was not whether witchcraft works but whether the men claimed to possess such powers. On that, the evidence was overwhelming.
Defence lawyers asked for leniency, calling the pair first-time offenders, but the court rejected the plea, stressing that their actions threatened not only the president but the entire nation. The ruling was delivered under Zambia’s rarely used colonial-era Witchcraft Act, first introduced in 1914. Legal experts note the law is seldom enforced but exists to prevent fear-driven violence and mob justice linked to witchcraft accusations.
President Hichilema, who has publicly said he does not believe in witchcraft, has remained silent on the verdict. Still, the case has drawn national attention as the first known prosecution for attempting to bewitch a sitting president, adding to ongoing debates about the place of witchcraft in Zambia’s modern politics and society.
