Tanzanians are once again doing some soul searching after another horror incident of old people being killed because they’re “witches”.
According to the Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen, the country has been grappling with the issue for years, and many were optimistic that the ill-founded superstition was losing its power.
But on Tuesday, five more elderly people – all women – were brutally murdered after being accused of being witches. The Citizen reported that eyewitnesses saw four of the women beaten to death, their bodies thrown into the bushes, and then burnt beyond recognition. The fifth woman did her best to escape but was also moered to death.
The number of such incidents has apparently been coming down over the years, but every year an average of 575 older people are killed after being accused of being witches.
One sign of being a witch, apparently, is to have bloodshot eyes.