SOUTH AFRICA:Police in KwaZulu-Natal are investigating the brutal murder of two 60-year-old women who were accused of casting an "evil spell" on a local school.
The two women were dragged from their home by a large group of youths and taken to a field where they were doused with petrol and set alight.
The double killing has caused outrage within sections of the community, and has reopened a national debate about attitudes towards witchcraft.
The South African Pagan Rights Alliance, a group purporting to represent up to 5,000 "witches" in the country, said the case highlighted the need for legislation to protect its practitioners.
Damon Leff, convener of the group, said existing legislation prohibited witches from openly practising, and this "contributed to crimes" such as that seen in KwaZulu-Natal.
"These sorts of attack come from a very irrational fear. There are a lot of superstitions and myths, and people are accused of being witches with no evidence."
He added that there may be "political" issues behind such attacks, as witches were sometimes seen to be in competition with traditional healers in rural communities.
Many other observers argue that the state should actively campaign against supernatural beliefs, which are blamed for periodic "muti" killings involving children and babies.
Police said they believed the attack on Mangubane Msaba Zungu and Qibile Thabitha Thusi was preplanned, and that residents from Manguzi, in the north of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, assisted a group of high-school pupils in burning the women to death on Monday night.
Police spokesman Jabulani Mdletshe said the students had been "acting strangely" since August 17th, and had believed that they had become possessed by an evil spirit.
"Many of the pupils started crying for no apparent reason. Some claimed they wanted meat during their crying," he said.
"There was apparently a few meetings held by the pupils to discuss the matter. At one of the meetings, it was allegedly suggested that the two women may have bewitched the school."