Two men accused of trying to bewitch the president of Zambia through some kind of magic were arrested in December, 2024. In their plea for leniency, the defense lawyers argued that even the president himself, Mr. Hichilema, has publicly stated that witchcraft does not exist. Three months after his death, the late former president has still not been buried due to a bizarre impasse between the family of Mr. Lungu and his successor. It was this unbending insistence that the burial program must include the president, that sparked rumours of witchcraft interests. Some suggested that the president needed to lay his eyes on the body of Mr. Lungu in order to entrench his hold on power, as a new election approaches.