A court in Zambia has sentenced two men to two years in prison after convicting them of attempting to use witchcraft to kill President Hakainde Hichilema. Leonard Phiri, a Zambian, and Jasten Mabulesse Candunde, a Mozambican, were arrested in December 2024 carrying charms, including a live chameleon, which prosecutors said they planned to use in a ritual meant to harm the president.
Magistrate Fine Mayambu ruled that the men were guilty under Zambia’s colonial-era Witchcraft Act of both “professing” witchcraft and possessing charms. He sentenced them to two years in prison, with an additional six months for the charms offense. Because the terms will run concurrently, they will serve only two years, starting from their arrest in December. “The convicts were not only enemies of the head of state but of all Zambians,” Magistrate Mayambu said. He added that whether or not witchcraft is real was irrelevant, as the law punishes those who claim to practice it and spread fear in society.
During the trial, Phiri reportedly explained how the chameleon’s tail, once pricked in a ritual, could allegedly cause death within five days. Both men argued they were traditional healers, not criminals, but the court rejected that defense. Their lawyer, Agrippa Malando, pleaded for leniency, requesting a fine instead of jail, but the appeal was dismissed. Prosecutors alleged that the men were hired by a fugitive former MP to carry out the plot. The case was closely watched in Zambia, marking the first known trial for attempting to use witchcraft against a sitting president. President Hichilema, who has previously said he does not believe in witchcraft, has not commented on the case.
Legal experts note that prosecutions under the 1914 Witchcraft Act are rare. Lawyer Dickson Jere told the BBC the law has historically been used to protect vulnerable people such as elderly women who are often accused of witchcraft in villages and targeted with mob violence. Belief in witchcraft remains widespread in Zambia, where it has also surfaced in political debates. Recently, speculation arose during a dispute over the burial of former President Edgar Lungu, with some accusing the government of “occult motives” in insisting he be interred in Zambia rather than South Africa, where he died in June. The government has denied the claims
