TOUCHSTONE ADVOCACY
Culture, religion and prejudice
by Damon Leff
In September 2007 South African Pagans elected five self-defined Witches to act as representatives, under the auspices of the South African Pagan Council (SAPC), in order to fulfill what has become known as the 'Melville Mandate'.
Said representatives have secured the legal services of Lawyers for Human Rights in order to have the Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957 revoked. We are fairly confident given the protections afforded to religious minorities in our country's constitution that we will succeed in having said act revoked in due course.
The 'Melville Mandate' also seeks to reclaim the terms 'Witch' and 'Witchcraft' within a modern Pagan context and representatives have been tasked with fulfilling the goal of reclamation through various educational and other processes, including the possible establishment of a formal Commission of Enquiry to investigate ongoing violence against innocent persons accused of practicing malefic witchcraft.
The Witchcraft Suppression Act of 1957
The Witchcraft Suppression Act (Act 3 of 1957 as amended by Act 50 of 1970) determines that any person who professes to use any supernatural power, or witchcraft, or professes knowledge of witchcraft or the use of charms, or for gain exercises any supernatural power or witchcraft shall be guilty of a criminal offense.
South African Pagans who self-define as Witches argue that Act 3 prohibits South African citizens from practicing their religion. These citizens of the Republic of South Africa have been and are being denied their constitutional rights to religious freedom, expression, equality, liberty, dignity, security and their right to choose and practice their occupation within South Africa.
The 'Melville Mandate' seeks to initiate urgent legislative reform to the Witchcraft Suppression Act in order to prevent any further or future unfair discrimination and prejudice against citizens of a free and democratic country founded on the recognition of human dignity, equality for all - irrespective of religion or belief, and the advancement of human rights and freedoms for all South African citizens equally.
Reclamation of the terms 'Witch' and 'Witchcraft'
Historically the words 'Witch' and 'Witchcraft' have been used in South Africa to describe evil or criminal practices associated with ritual killings, human mutilations and misfortune in general. The 1995 Report of the Ralushai Commission of Inquiry into Witchcraft Violence and Ritual Murder in the Northern Province, defined the term 'witch' to mean a person who,
"…through sheer malice, either consciously or subconsciously, employs magical means to inflict all manner of evil on their fellow human beings. They destroy property, bring disease or misfortune and cause death, often entirely without provocation to satisfy their inherent craving for evil doing."
Testifying before a Truth and Reconciliation Commission Amnesty Hearing in July 1999 Professor Ralushai confirmed his Commission’s definition of 'a witch' when he was asked by attorney Patrick Ndou to define what a Witch was. Ralushai stated,
"A witch is supposed to be a person who is endowed with powers of causing illness or ill luck or death to the person that he wants to destroy."
The recently proposed Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill attempted to define Witchcraft as:
"…the secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powders, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property."
These definitions of 'witchcraft' stereotype witchcraft as harmful by portraying Witches as a danger to the communities within which they live and work. These harmful stereotypical definitions merely serve to justify irrational public fear of witchcraft as a harmful practice that is associated with criminal activity. Maintaining and reinforcing a definition of 'witchcraft' predisposed to eliciting violence against alleged or accused witches does not promote religious tolerance, but serves to incite further malice and violence against suspected witches, and fosters further discrimination against Witchcraft.
The characterization of a person or group of persons (witches) as 'evil' and so deserving of criminal classification by default makes a mockery of the values of human dignity, equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms on which the Republic of South Africa is founded.
South African Witches regard harmful stereotypical definitions of Witchcraft as injurious to the dignity of self-defined Witches and the use of the terms 'witch' and 'witchcraft' to describe criminal activities as harmful discrimination against self-defined Witches. The use of the English term 'witchcraft' with which to describe harmful magical practices brings into disrepute anyone who may self-identify as a Witch, irrespective of whether or not said self- defined Witch is a European Pagan or a practitioner of Traditional African magic.
The 'Melville Mandate' seeks to reclaim the terms 'Witch' and 'Witchcraft' within a modern Pagan religious context and determines that the right to define the words ‘Witch’ and ‘Witchcraft’ rests with self-defined Witches themselves and no one else.
The following definition is a good standard definition of Witchcraft as understood and as practiced by South African Witches:
Witchcraft is an ancient religio-magical technique and modern Pagan spirituality that employs the use of divination, sympathetic magic and Pagan ritual practices. – SAPRA
As self-defined Witches we stand as testimony to the existence of both Witches and Witchcraft, but we wish to reiterate that we are neither evil nor criminals. As Witches, as practitioners of Witchcraft, we claim the right to self-definition and self-determination of our own spirituality and its practices. As equal citizens of South Africa we claim our right to freedom of belief and religion.
For more information visit the following websites:
South African Pagan Rights Alliance (SAPRA)
http://www.paganrightsalliance.org
The South African Pagan Council (SAPC)
http://www.pagancouncil.co.za
TouchStone is not a religious organization. TouchStone has one objective: Reclaim the terms 'Witch' and 'Witchcraft' within a modern Pagan context. This is a controversial subject, and this IS a "battle" for reclamation.
As South Africans we have inherited several prejudicial memes on the nature of 'evil', 'misfortune' and 'maleficum'. These memes have illicited suspicion, mistrust, fear, hatred and violence within communities in several Provinces. They continue to do so because culture, religion, law and politics gives them sanction under the rubric of 'respecting cultural traditions'.
TouchStone seeks to challenge these memes. If you're of like mind, touch the stone and claim your own destiny.
Take back your right to define who and what you are for yourself. Claim your right to self-determination, as Witches, as free citizens of a nation re-built on the principles of equality and dignity and enshrined for all equally in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. |
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