Kampyongo Slams Witchcraft Case, Urges Government to Show Wisdom in Handling National Matters

Kampyongo Slams Witchcraft Case, Urges Government to Show Wisdom in Handling National Matters

….as he questions if the determinates of the Wizards case….

LUSAKA – 18 September, 2025

Shiwang’andu Member of Parliament Hon. Stephen Kampyongo has criticised the government for allowing Zambia to make international headlines for the wrong reasons, citing recent convictions of alleged wizards and the ongoing legal case involving the widow of a former Head of State.

Debating the Motion of Thanks on the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered last week Friday, Kampyongo said the justice system must reflect the realities of a modern nation and not undermine Zambia’s international image.

“I agree with him 100%. Yes, criminal matters should go to the courts, and all those clear cases,” Kampyongo said in reference to President Hichilema’s remarks on resolving some disputes outside the courts.

“But apart from business transactions that can be sorted out of court, there are also certain matters that just require collective wisdom.”

He took particular aim at the recent jailing of two people for witchcraft.

“Why should this era, Mr. Speaker, we as a country should be making headlines that wizards have been jailed for two years and so on?” he asked.

“The President has informed the nation, publicly, that he doesn’t recognise witchcraft. We were all listening. But here we are, and people are calling us now we have got witch doctors as magistrates. Because to determine witchcraft, you need a witch doctor. So now those who were determined to say those two wizards were witches are they witch doctors now working in the subordinate courts?”

Kampyongo said such cases were not only outdated but damaging to Zambia’s reputation.

“Those are the issues that have taken us to the international headlines for the wrong reasons wizards, in this era, where we are supposed to be talking about AI,” he told Parliament.

He also blasted the decision to pursue the widow of the late former President in international courts. “Wisdom, Mr. Speaker, should have prevailed over all of us collectively. We could have resolved the issue of the former Head of State here at home. It didn’t need the Attorney General to drag the poor widow into an international court, a foreign court,” he argued.

“Those are the matters, Mr. Speaker, that the President was sitting there telling us let’s take them out of court.”

While these governance issues dominated his debate, Kampyongo also addressed the President’s remarks on water and sanitation.

He highlighted Patriotic Front Government legacy projects such as the Kafue Bulk Water Supply System and the Kaflafuta Water Project, which were contracted in 2014.

“These projects, though funded through debt, were life-saving,” Kampyongo explained.

“Without them, Kaflafuta and surrounding districts would today be struggling to supply safe drinking water. Even when we criticise debt, we must acknowledge that such projects financed were not luxuries but necessities. Water is life.”

He further urged government to prioritise completion of the Kaputa Water and Sanitation project, describing it as “monumental,” and called for the reinstatement of the road contract linked to it.