Police yet to arrest Malawi mob justice perpetrators following witchcraft claims
Malawi Police say they are yet to arrest people in Nsanje who burned to death suspected grave diggers who were allegedly found with human bones on Tuesday for use in witchcraft.
Tengani police officer in charge Kirby Kaunga said Wednesday the law enforcers were on the ground investigating the matter.
Kaunga justified the delay to apprehend the mob justice perpetrators saying sometimes investigations take longer to complete.
Nyasa Times understands a team of police investigators from southern region headquarters have been dispatched to the area on Wednesday to investigate the matter.
Other unverified reports indicate the men were also found with human private parts.
A traditional chief said local suspicions were aroused as a result of the movements and telephone conversations of one of the seven, who was found to have a bag containing the bones.
Kaunga however said whatever a criminal offence the men were to face, ordinary villagers had no powers to kill them.
Human rights activist Timothy Mtambo of Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) said the killing of the seven men shows Malawi is sliding slowly into a lawless nation.
“This is very pathetic. We are having a country that is lawless. We have the police, we have the courts where people should have gone to complain,” he said.
He said the government should ensure people adhere to law structures to deal with criminality instead of taking the law into their own hands.
James Kadazera, police spokesman for the southern region, said experts would conduct a post-mortem on the bones in the bag “to establish whether they are albino humans or not”.
“We also want find out who actually torched these people,” Kadazera added, saying police condemned “mob justice” where members of the public took the law into their own hands.
Identification of the victims was proving difficult due to their severe injuries, he said.
Just last month, an angry mob lynched to death four elderly people in Mwanza whose bodies were also burnt. The bones the men were found with are said to be of albinos and some people believe the mixture of the bones and some charms can bring wealth and good luck.
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That is the only way how pipo behaves in a land with a failling govt. If there is no order in the gvt will the citizens respect law? Not at all. If the gvt was protecting its pipo,pipo could respect the law. You don’t play with an injured buffalo!
We r talking of Human bones,not minyanga ya Njovu.
Zhiiiiii akulumwe mwachita tepo zhiiiiii zhiiiiii mwaaphataba basa mamapanga enewo. Anamala anthu ndiwo enewo ku mphalaku. Mbafe pyao.
The fact that people are supporting the killing of those seven men shows the depth to which some Malawians have sunk. Whether those men had human bones in their possession or not is no excuse for mob ‘justice. This kind of thing is happening much too frequently and is indicative gross ignorance and a lack of respect for law and order. It must be stamped on with the full force of the law.
KILL THE KILLERS albinos are human beings also.
zilibho amawona ngati akamapha anzawo samafuna moyo that is best way for punishing them,
Police should not arrest these evil people who go to the graveyard to look for bones of albinos and also sell human parts. These beasts deserve death and death alone.
Koma ndiye zawonjeza guys!tiyeni tisatengere lamulo mmanja mwathu
I don’t blame those who bunt the criminals, A police nanu musatibhowepo apaa.. so u tink we don’t kuti a m’mipandonu ndamene mukutuma anthu kuti adzidura ziwalo?
Wasala #Peter kuotchedwa I min sitikufuna ma gay mu warm heart of Africa..
if that will help to prevent more albino killings,then burning them was the right thing to do.Courts are too lenient