By CHILA NAMAIKO??  –

CHIEFS in Southern Province have attributed the rising murder cases of people on suspicion of practising witchcraft, to escalating manufacturing of home-made guns.
About 40 people suspected of practising witchcraft were said to have been shot dead in the last few years in chiefdoms that include, Sinazongwe, Mweemba, Hamaundu and Chikanta.
In Chief Hamaundu’s area in Pemba, a funeral gathering recently turned more catastrophic after a trigger-happy man shot dead at point blank three people among them a baby, while targeting to kill a man suspected to have bewitched another villager.
A forty-five-year-old man of Sinazongwe was shot dead at his house by assailants on suspicion of being a wizard, while in Kalomo another man, 75, was shot.
The chiefs have since appealed to Government to deploy paramilitary officers in crime-prone areas to arrest people making unlicensed guns.
Chief Sinazongwe said seven people suspected to be wizards, mostly elderly men in his area had been shot dead.
This was in Choma on Tuesday when the chiefs met provincial Permanent Secretary Sibanze Simujoba and Police.
“We are living in fear due to many traditional factories in our areas in which some villagers are making unlicensed guns used to kill innocent people suspected to be wizards, “he said.??He said in the last few months, he had fled his palace and sought refuge in Chief Sipatunyana’s area because assailants with guns also wanted to kill him.
Chief Nalubamba cited an incidence where a man from his area was on Monday night shot dead by a suspected relative using a home-made gun following a dispute over family cattle.??Chief Hamaundu said guns were on the increase in his area and any man with ‘grey hair’ was considered a wizard among youths.
Chief Singani was dismayed with Police for their failure to arrest a man who shot his father, William Siayula, 88, admitted to Choma General Hospital.
He said despite reporting the matter to the Police that the assailant wanted to kill Mr Siayula using a gun following a dispute over land, the Police had not taken action.
Chief Simwatachela said the rifle guns used in guerrilla warfare concealed in tunnels in Mapatizya area, were being removed by criminals.
But Southern division criminal investigations officer Patson Mukomongo said murder was a serious offence and that Police had increased patrols in crime-prone chiefdoms.
Earlier, Mr Simujoba urged chiefs to help Police in exposing the ‘traditional factories ‘making guns to arrest culprits.