Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa

Casting new light on scholarly understandings of the connections between politics, witchcraft and AIDS in South Africa, this biography reconstructs the life of Jimmy Mohale, who studied and worked as a teacher during the anti-apartheid struggle and died from an undiagnosed sickness, attributing his misfortunes to witchcraft.

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Witchcraft and a Life in the New South Africa reconstructs the biography of an ordinary South African, Jimmy Mohale. Born in 1964, Jimmy came of age in rural South Africa during apartheid, then studied at university and worked as a teacher during the anti-apartheid struggle. In 2005, Jimmy died from an undiagnosed sickness, probably related to AIDS. Jimmy gradually came to see the unanticipated misfortune he experienced as a result of his father's witchcraft and sought remedies from diviners rather than from biomedical doctors. This study casts new light on scholarly understandings of the connections between South African politics, witchcraft and the AIDS pandemic.