Conviction Witchcraft- and sorcery-accusation violence Killing or assault after a witchcraft or sorcery accusation Driekop, Northern Province, South Africa · 1995

South Africa: two men convicted of murder and of imputing witchcraft under the Witchcraft Suppression Act, later granted amnesty on the footing the killing was political

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Disposition and response

Material that narrows or disputes the record

Appellate history

Record class

Separate register

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

members and leadership of the ANC Youth League in the area, as found by the Amnesty Committee

Organization

Lydenburg Regional Court, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Amnesty Committee, African National Congress Youth League

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The deceased was killed after witchcraft was imputed to him, and that imputation was itself the subject of a criminal conviction under section 1(a) of the Witchcraft Suppression Act 3 of 1957. The belief operated against the victim as an accusation rather than as authority held over him.

Curse or witchcraft threat
Violent occult ideology or sacrifice

Scope decision

This is an inverse-relation record and is filed accordingly. The victim was not subject to the killers' spiritual authority; he was killed because witchcraft was attributed to HIM. It therefore belongs in the accusation-violence category and must not be read as an instance of a religious figure abusing followers. The record is unusual in that the witchcraft imputation was not merely context but a distinct count of conviction under a named statute, which is what makes the accusation an adjudicated fact rather than a reported motive. The Amnesty Committee's later characterisation is recorded but not adopted as this archive's account of motive: the Committee granted amnesty on the basis that the killing was politically associated, finding the perceived witchdoctors were regarded as political enemies because they were seen as aligned with the local Chief. Those two framings — witchcraft accusation and political killing — coexist in the official record and this record reproduces both rather than choosing between them. Amnesty extinguished criminal liability; it did not reverse or vacate the convictions, and the record does not treat it as an appellate outcome. Johannes Mmaletswai Phasha, named in a second Witchcraft Suppression Act count, survived; no finding is made here about what befell him.

Evidence structure

Proceedings

1995-06-28 · conviction and sentence

Lydenburg Regional Court, South Africa. Michael Morudi Phasha and Daniel Lisufi Phasha were convicted of the murder of Abram Madibeng Phasha at or near Driekop, Northern Province, on 14 February 1993, and of contravening section 1(a) of the Witchcraft Suppression Act 3 of 1957 by imputing witchcraft to the deceased, together with a further contravention of the same section in respect of Johannes Mmaletswai Phasha. Each was sentenced on 28 June 1995 to an effective thirteen years' imprisonment.
2000-01-01 · amnesty decision

Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Amnesty Committee, South Africa. The Amnesty Committee granted amnesty to both applicants in respect of the offences committed on or about 14 February 1993 at or near Driekop, holding the acts to be associated with a political objective under section 20 of the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act and that full disclosure had been made. The Committee found that 'bona fide perceptions about their association with and support of the Chief, led to the perceived witchdoctors being regarded as their political enemies by members of the ANCYL.' The next-of-kin of the late Abram Madibeng Phasha were identified as victims in respect of the murder.

Documented coercion mechanisms

public imputation of witchcraft to the deceased
a crowd acting on that accusation
the accused persons' perceived association with the local Chief, which the Committee found caused them to be treated as political enemies

Cited record

Sources

official government record amnesty committee decision Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Amnesty Committee, decision in the applications of Michael Morudi Phasha and Daniel Lisufi Phasha, AM 1221/96 (South Africa, 2000).: The official Amnesty Committee decision, published by the South African Department of Justice. It records that the applicants were convicted in the Lydenburg Regional Court of the murder of Abram Madibeng Phasha and of contravening section 1(a) of the Witchcraft Suppression Act 3 of 1957 by imputing witchcraft to the deceased, plus a further count of the same section in respect of Johannes Mmaletswai Phasha, and that each was sentenced on 28 June 1995 to an effective thirteen years. It grants amnesty in respect of the offences committed on or about 14 February 1993 at or near Driekop, Northern Province, holding them to be acts associated with a political objective with full disclosure made, and finds that 'bona fide perceptions about their association with and support of the Chief, led to the perceived witchdoctors being regarded as their political enemies by members of the ANCYL.'
official commission record commission victim record South African History Archive / SABC Truth Commission records, victim entry for Abram Madibeng Phasha.: The Truth Commission victim record for Abram Madibeng Phasha, corroborating the identity of the deceased and the date and place of the killing on 14 February 1993 at Driekop, Northern Province.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/decisions/2000/ac20077.htm Corpus classification: official-government-record; evidentiary role: amnesty-committee-decision.
Retrieval: 2026-07-28 · Preserved; Bound by Fear research cycle 2026-07-28 (Amnesty Committee decision read directly at justice.gov.za; note that a prior internal research pass cited this decision as AC/2000/001, which resolves to an unrelated matter — the correct citation is AM 1221/96 at ac20077.htm, verified before drafting)
Source and tier basis: https://sabctrc.saha.org.za/victims/phasha_abram_madibeng.htm Corpus classification: official-commission-record; evidentiary role: commission-victim-record.
Retrieval: 2026-07-28 · Preserved; Bound by Fear research cycle 2026-07-28 (Amnesty Committee decision read directly at justice.gov.za; note that a prior internal research pass cited this decision as AC/2000/001, which resolves to an unrelated matter — the correct citation is AM 1221/96 at ac20077.htm, verified before drafting)

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