Traditionally, elderly widowed women, whose communities in regions such as Ghana, Zambia and Kenya, no longer deem them to be valuable human beings are accused of witchcraft, but in recent history almost a third of the victims of these accusations are men. It has become apparent that economic matters are a prominent motivation; by accusing a family member of witchcraft, especially an elderly relative, eliminates the families’ financial responsibility for them. In a region of poverty and little education, this is a very appealing option for villagers.

According to the beliefs of the African people, witches commit incest, eat their own children, hang by their feet from a tree when resting, eat salt when thirsty and dance naked in cemeteries. Like most folk tales, these actions appear to be a direct reflection of a society’s fears and forbidden desires.

Those accused of being a witch, a person who participates in the previously mentioned lurid activities, are often people close to the “victim” of witchcraft. Of course, all magic is not a valid source of fear. Witchcraft in ancient history was known as “The Craft of the Wise” because most who followed the path were profoundly in tune with the forces of nature, had a knowledge of herbs and medicines, gave counsel and were valuable parts of the community as Shamanic healers and leaders.

So, following the theory of ying and yang, there is a good and bad side to magic. The bad side in African culture may be the more prominent, however, its benevolent counterpart does indeed exist and thrive alongside accusations of black magic. There are spells to protect loved ones, bring on good weather in order to sustain crops and in turn a community’s livelihood. White magic also exists in other arguably more structured forms such as in Wicca, a neo-pagan religion which worships nature and sees all creation as sacred. Wiccans utilize witchcraft in order to connect with nature and their inner selves.

However, rationality aside, accusations continue to run rife against people who somehow make others feel bad about themselves whether it be because they are too rich, too beautiful, too smart, not smart enough, not good looking enough or just too popular. For this reason, villagers are often too scared to show off their good fortune for fear of being accused of witchcraft by jealous peers; this in turn has been an obstacle to development in an area which is already unstable.

Basically, if someone dies in suspicious circumstances, or something inexplicable happens, a witch is usually suspected. There are fresh influxes of alleged witches whenever there is an unexplained phenomenon – anything from outbreaks of meningitis to blighted crops. One woman was even accused of being a witch for the simple fact that all seven of her children were still alive. This distorted view of reality is so powerful that the fearful belief in witches has generated numerous witch hunts. Those accused of using such witchcraft are banished from villages but often they are stoned or burned to death (the flames of the stake are believed to smoke out evil spirits and evil women).

For those lucky enough to simply be banished, witch camps‚ like those appearing in Ghana, offer refuge for those accused of witchcraft. Women have been known to flee from neighbouring countries, Burkina Faso and Togo to find sanctuary in such villages.

In 1997 alone, the police investigated over 150 murders of suspected witches; in reaction to the shocking amount of witch killings in South Africa, the regional police have set up ten official witch sanctuaries to decrease the amount of killings. One of these villages, Helena, lies 60kms from Pietersburg. Another camp in Gnani protects accused women from persecutors with the help of a traditional priest (known as the Tindaana) who performs exorcisms on newcomers. In this ceremony, a cockerel’s throat is slashed and is then tossed to the ground. The position in which the bird dies determines whether the accused is guilty or not. If the bird dies flopped forwards onto its beak, the accused is innocent. They are then required to drank some of the cockerel’s blood in a ritual cleansing ceremony, vowing not to practice black magic in Gnani.

Anyone is accepted into these camps and it is against their custom to banish people. Bearing a slight resemblance to a retirement village, elderly women chat to their neighbours from the front of their sun-baked huts. They lead a meagre existence gathering firewood to sell and tending tiny plots of maize and spinach. It’s interesting to note that the only women who admit to practicing witchcraft in these camps insist they confine their powers to the protection of themselves and loved ones. These women live with the knowledge that if they return to their hometowns they will be killed and they will never be accepted by another village due to the stigma of witchcraft. The only connection which remains between them and their old life is the visits they receive from children and grandchildren. The charity Action Aid, which has researched the phenomenon, estimates that there are almost 400 accused witches in six camps in northern Ghana.

The discovery of this growth of witch hunts has lead to speculation that the original African concept of magic has lost its morally unbiased character due to the long exposure to Western missionaries. Christianity condemning the spirit world combined with a low-tech society spawned a dangerous fear.

Here in Western society, jealousy isn’t a foreign concept. To the contrary, we are surrounded by it everyday. Quite often when someone we know is too clever, too beautiful, too rich, we become jealous of them to the point of hatred; the point that we want to take some of these things away from them and bring them back down to our level so we can feel better about ourselves. We may be the jealous one or we may be the subject of envy; we might just be watching it happen to others. At the discovery that witch hunts were still occurring in the world, I was shocked, but hidden underneath the label of witch hunt were two disconcertingly familiar concepts – envy and selfishness – two things we have all been guilty of at some point.

So, who are we going to blame now?