In a horrific incident, two women aged 60 and 65 were accused of witchcraft, subsequently stoned and burned alive in public on Sunday in a village in the Uvira territory of the South Kivu province. Civil society has vehemently condemned this act and the escalating cases of mob justice in the region.
According to witnesses, these women, one of whom is the wife of a Protestant church pastor, were forcibly dragged from their homes at nightfall before being subjected to stoning and burning by a group of youths.
The victims were accused of being responsible for the deaths of several individuals who had recently gone missing in the village. “These two women, who had received numerous death threats, were already aware of their fate,” lamented André Byadunia, a socio-political activist in Uvira actively advocating against mob justice.
Mabiswa Selemani Jean de Dieu, Uvira’s administrator, condemned the act as “shameful” and stated that judicial authorities had been alerted. Another Congolese civil society actor, Kelvin Bwija, denounced it as a “regressive practice.”
In 2023, the Women’s Media Association AFEM/South Kivu deplored the murder of at least 33 women, primarily elderly individuals accused of witchcraft, in Bukavu and villages across South Kivu. Others were forced into hiding.