A sustainable educational response to witch killing and ritual murder in Lesotho - Introducing Basotho Traditional Religion in Lesotho schools

Oct 15, 2026

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Witch killing and ritual murder have increased in Lesotho since 1999 despite limited engagement from social sectors, including academia. This paper addresses that silence through religious education, arguing for introducing Basotho Traditional Religion in schools so youth understand belief in witchcraft and vital force as key drivers. It links youth vulnerability to cultural alienation caused by neglect of traditional beliefs in formal education and warns that ignorance enables misrepresentation or misuse for criminal acts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

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Abstract

Introduction

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 3(4), pp. 209-220, October 2015 ISSN: 2354-2160 Review A sustainable educational response to the recent increased witch killing and ritual murder ‘Liretlo’ in Lesotho: Introducing Basotho Traditional Religion in Lesotho schools Isaac Rasebate Mokotso National University of Lesotho, P.O. Box 122, Roma 180, Lesotho, Southern Africa. Accepted 5 October, 2015 | ABSTRACT
Witch killing and ritual murder have been increasing in Lesotho since 1999 even though there is absolute silence from different social sectors including academic community. This paper is an attempt to break such silence from the angle of religious education proposing that Basotho Traditional Religion should be introduced in Lesotho schools to teach Basotho youth about the real meaning of belief in witchcraft and vital force as the main source behind witch killing and ritual murder. The paper highlights that the susceptibility of Basotho youth to crimes of witch killings and ritual murder is due to cultural alienation in which they have been estranged from their own religious beliefs by neglect of traditional beliefs in formal education system . They are ignorant of their traditional beliefs which they could also not be totally divorced from owing to the fact that religion is so inherent in African culture to the extent that it accompanies an individual before birth up until after death. Practicing a religion that they are ignorant of has put them in a situation in which they may either misrepresent it or misuse it for criminal acts. Even though there are many factors suggested including economic factors, rationality behind unusual occurrences, and strengthening of vital force to be the motives for witch killing and ritual murder, this review argues that those are opportunistic factors while at the heart is ‘belief’ – religion that has to be addressed through reorientation of the same religious beliefs within moral education and culturally appropriate education.
Keywords: Religious education, witch killing, ritual murder, Basotho Traditional Religion, moral education, multicultural education, culturally appropriate education. | | --- | | E-mail: [iscrasmok20@yahoo.com. Tel:](iscrasmok20@yahoo.com. Tel:) 266 22340282. Cell: 266 59499100. | INTRODUCTION Lesotho has experienced a continuous witch killing and ritual murder in recent years even though there is a complete silence on these issues from different social sectors and more importantly from academic circles, mainly anthropologists, religion studies and educationists. The issues seemed to be left for police who are responsible for the arrest of witch killers and ritual murderers, journalists who usually reports court proceedings and courts of law that have deal with such cases. This paper cross-examines these problems from religious education perspective. Witch killing (also witch purging) refers to the hunting of and murdering of people accused of witchcraft. Both the terms ‘witch’ and ‘witchcraft’ are difficult to explain in an African understanding. Cimpric (2010) proposes that in the contemporary Africa the term ‘witch’ refers to an individual with disconcerting character, who operates undercover or secretly, and who employs occult knowledge and controls certain objects and magic techniques. This definition includes both the female witch on her broom and the seers consulted by the local population. Witchcraft on the other hand refers to a set of beliefs, structured and shared by a given population, that addresses the origin of misfortune, illness and death, and the set of practices for detection, treatment and punishment that corresponds to these beliefs in which the witch is responsible for the cause, detection and treatment. These definitions of witch and witchcraft do not differentiate between a witch, a diviner and a doctor. In Sesotho culture there is a difference between a witch (moloi) , diviner (selaoli), and doctor (ngaka), but a

FAQs

Why does the paper propose introducing Basotho Traditional Religion in Lesotho schools?

It proposes religious education to help Basotho youth understand the real meaning of belief in witchcraft and vital force, which the paper identifies as a main source behind witch killing and ritual murder.

How does cultural alienation relate to witch killing and ritual murder?

The paper argues that susceptibility stems from estrangement from traditional religious beliefs because formal education neglects them, leaving youth ignorant of their own beliefs.

What does the paper consider the underlying core of witch killing and ritual murder?

Although it acknowledges multiple suggested factors, the review argues that opportunistic factors exist, but the heart of the issue is “belief” that must be addressed through reorientation of religious beliefs in moral and culturally appropriate education.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford