SIX police officers have been injured after an agitated group of mourners estimated to be about 500 people stoned them in Luanshya’s Mpatamatu Township when they went to intervene following reports that they were conducting a ritual after the death of a 19-year-old man.
The mourners believe his grandmother, whose whereabouts are unknown, was behind the death of Enock Kaoma in Mpatamatu’s Kawama area.
Enock was said to be vomiting blood before his death last week.
The traditional ceremony they were conducting on Tuesday is called Bwela Bwela or Chikondu, a practice anchored on the belief that behind every death there is a witch.
This practice is rife especially in North-Western Province, parts of Copperbelt rural and some areas near neighbouring Angola and Congo DRC. This is contained in a report published by Zambia Daily Mail.