BW’s Dangerous Rhetoric on Ritual Killings

UDC MP Kamal Jacobs’ claims over the weekend linking the BDP to ritual killings have reopened a dark and deeply uncomfortable conversation in Botswana. From Segametsi Mogomotsi to Tlotso Karema, unresolved and suspicious cases continue to haunt the national psyche, feeding cultural fears and shaping political discourse around justice, power and accountability. Umbrella for Democratic Change legislator Kamal Jacobs has reignited one of Botswana’s most emotionally charged and controversial debates after allegedly insinuating that members of the former ruling Botswana Democratic Party used ritual killings to gain political power.

Kamal’s utterances at a political rally in Selibe Phikwe last weekend triggered outrage across the political divide but they also reopened painful national memories surrounding ritual murder allegations, unresolved public suspicions and the long-standing silence of the Botswana government on the issue. The case also engulfed former finance minister Thapelo Matsheka, who found himself heavily scrutinised and politically victimised after his name became associated with public speculation surrounding Karema’s death. Although no conviction tied Matsheka to the murder, the controversy inflicted damage on his political and public image, demonstrating how ritual killing allegations in Botswana often evolve into tools of political destruction long before facts are conclusively established.

Kamal’s remarks have therefore revived deeper concerns about Botswana’s unresolved relationship with ritual killings, a subject that continues to exist in whispers, rumours, political accusations and community fears. Despite presenting itself as a human rights-driven democracy with a stable justice system, Botswana remains alarmingly silent on ritual killings. While murder is criminalised under Botswana law, the country does not legally recognise ritual killing as a distinct offence.

[paywall]

Critics argue that this omission has created a dangerous grey area where allegations are politically weaponised, investigations become clouded by secrecy while communities are left haunted by suspicion and unresolved trauma. The issue resurfaced sharply on March 24 this year when Minister for State President, Defence and Security, Moeti Mohwasa told Parliament that Botswana’s statutes do not recognise ritual killings as a specific crime. “In our statutes in general and the Penal Code in particular, we don’t have an offence called ritual killing.

We are therefore constrained to speak to a crime that is not in our statutes. The taking of human life is criminalised as murder,” Mohwasa told Parliament. Mohwasa’s remarks exposed what many legal and social commentators have long argued, that Botswana has historically chosen a pragmatic but evasive approach to ritual killing allegations.

Local law enforcement prosecutes murder but avoids formally engaging with the cultural, political and spiritual dimensions often associated with ritualistic crimes. That silence has become increasingly uncomfortable for a country where rumours and accusations of body mutilations, disappearances and killings linked to wealth-seeking rituals have persisted for decades.

[/paywall]