Villagers burn 8 houses over witchcraft claims

Angry people in Chakwera village in Karonga district have razed down eight houses whose owners are being suspected to have bewitched the village head of the area, Malawi24 has learnt.

According to information from Karonga police made available to this publication, the incident happened at around 7pm on 2nd January, 2017.

The police said village head Chakwera (Jeromy Kumwenda) passed away on 1st January 2017 after a short illness. But his subjects claimed that his death was not natural and they started suspecting that he was bewitched by his younger brother Kruger Kumwenda.

It is said that Kumwenda killed his brother with the aim of taking the chieftainship a development that angered people in the area.

The angry communities ganged up and set ablaze two houses belonging to Kumwenda’s two wives and six other houses belonging to his relatives who were suspected to be on Kumwenda’s side.

Police rushed to the scene but did nothing because the houses were already in ashes.

However, preliminary results of police’s investigations have shown that items destroyed are worth over K10 million.

Meanwhile police have not yet arrested anyone on the matter claiming their investigations are still underway but whosoever will be arrested, will answer charges of arson.

There was also bloodshed in the same district last year in September in the area of Traditional Authority (TA) Kilipula as villagers fought over chieftaincy.