Category: Africa

An Analysis of the Tsikamutanda Witch Hunting phenomenon in Eastern Zimbabwe: An Interview with Headman Nemasase

February 25, 2017 | by | 0 Comments
By Chris Mataruka and Takudzwa Mazwienduna Superstition is sometimes considered a harmless phenomenon, which is why we seldom find citizens or legislators mounting serious opposition to unsubstantiated opinions deeply held by various people.  Most of this superstition is inspired by irrational fear; the fear of the unknown, which often makes paranoia a trait found amongst […] Read more

Young Humanist Forums

February 15, 2017 | by | 0 Comments
The International Institute for Development Facilitation (IIDF) Trust is a local NGO based in Mutare Zimbabwe. Like most Non Profits in the country, it has followed up the orthodox means of attaining development; capacity building initiatives. Capacity building initiatives imply that the strategy for executing development initiatives emphasises decision making to be centralised on local […] Read more

Anti-Voodoo Cult: Death, Despair, and Religious Exploitation in West Africa

February 10, 2017 | by | 1 Comments
They died expecting the Holy Spirit who never descended to rescue them. They died seeking spiritual help that they never received. Five persons reportedly suffocated to death and several others were hospitalized for respiratory problems after a prayer ritual went awry in Benin in West Africa. A religious cult that opposed the local voodoo tradition, […] Read more

Humanism: Realising and Resisting Change in Africa

January 25, 2017 | by | 1 Comments
In 1994, a student gave me a book, and one of the lines in the book read, “If you want to change the society, start a movement”. I did not understand the full importance of this statement but the insight struck me and stuck with me, and never left me since then. In 1996, I […] Read more

Prophetic Christianity and its ‘Doom-contents’ in Africa

November 27, 2016 | by | 0 Comments
The image of a South African pastor spraying his congregation with a pesticide called Doom during a ‘healing session’ has sparked a wave of outrage and condemnation across the world. This self-proclaimed prophet, Lethebo Rabalago, heads a church called Mount of Zion General Assembly in Limpopo province. A member of his congregation had an eye infection and […] Read more

Islam: No Justice for Victims of Blasphemy Killings in Nigeria?

November 5, 2016 | by | 0 Comments
A court in Kano state in Northern Nigeria has acquitted five persons who were arrested in connection with the killing of a Christian female trader, Bridget Agbahime, from Southern Nigeria. She was murdered on June 2 at Kofai Wambai market after some exchanges with some Muslims. Her killers attacked her with dangerous weapons and slit […] Read more

Interview with Roslyn Mould -​ President of the Humanist Association of Ghana; Chair of the African working group (IHEYO)

November 2, 2016 | by | 0 Comments
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: You grew up as a Catholic. You went to Holy Child School, Cape Coast as well. What is your story as a youth growing up in a religious household? What was the experience? I attended Catholic schools, St. Theresa’s School in Accra from primary, junior high school and in Holy Child School […] Read more