African witchcraft and western law: psychological and cultural issues

The South African Suppression of Witchcraft Act of 1957 outlawed tribal mediation by chiefs and sangomas (African priest-diviners) in witchcraft accusation trials. This Western legislative intervention denies African justice to Africans who believe in the reality of African witchcraft. As a result there have been many recorded instances where ordinary African people, thinking themselves bewitched, have turned to self-help to protect themselves against bewitchment; mob justice and witchcraft violence have escalated like never before. This paper argues that the Suppression of Witchcraft Act should be repealed so that legitimate sangomas can be reinstated as mediators in witchcraft accusation cases. The distinction between sangomas and witches is clarified and a Jungian framework is used to shed light on the nature of African beliefs in witches, ancestors, and spirit worlds. Standard models of anthropology and psychology have tended to treat such beliefs as symptoms of superstition or madness. My argument is that by approaching these belief systems from a Jungian perspective, new ways of thinking about them are introduced which can help us find a solution to the problem of witchcraft violence in South Africa.