Long, long ago, being accused of witchcraft and getting burnt at the stake was all just part of growing up, and something you’d just have to contend with. But far from being resigned to the past, witchcraft rears it’s ugly head in our modern midst.

In Polokwane, rural folks who do quite well for themselves and thus begin flashing the cash, have been accused of being witches.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, spokesman for SAPS says: “Now you are a witch because you are driving a 4×4. This is the mentality that people have.”

And this is actually no lauging matter as Mupala Motopela, 81, and her granddaughter, Cynthia Lemaho, 26, found out in the most grisly of fashions. They were stoned to death and set alight by an angry mob in Maake Village, near Tzaneen.

The most recent incident was the fourth one in the last three months, and it’s becoming a great concern to the police, as comparatively-wealthy people can no longer return to their villages for fear of being accused of witchcraft and then stoned to death.

My opinion on the matter might be over simplified, but jealousy makes you nasty.

[Source SAPA via News24]