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Paper short abstract:

The 1957 Witchcraft Suppression Act is still in place in South Africa today. This Act impacts different racial and geographical areas in South Africa. For some, the Act stands in the way of justice and protection, for others, it acts as a barrier to religious freedom.

Paper long abstract:

South Africans were given religious freedom with the formation of the new Constitution in 1996. The implementation of this law is a significant achievement, in theory. However, in practice, this law has shown some great difficulties for minority religions. One of these are the Wiccans, who fall under the umbrella term of Paganism. Since 2007, South African Wiccans have engaged with the law in a quest for religious freedom. Wiccans claim that the Witchcraft Suppression Act No3 of 1957 (WSA 3, 1957) violates their constitutional right to religious freedom and submitted requests to the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) to repeal the Act. This paper locates the Wiccan quest for religious freedom in a South African context where the Wiccan perception of witchcraft as a harmless religious practice differs fundamentally from that of the Black majority of the country, to whom witchcraft is the evil and often the fatal work of witches. The question is whether Wiccans have the constitutional right to religious freedom or if they are positioning themselves from a place of white privilege into a debate that does not affect their practice. In 2022, a Discussion paper was published by the SALRC to reach an accommodation as to whether the WSA 3, 1957 should be repealed, replaced, or continued to be implemented. It is, therefore, essential to locate the Wiccan voice in the greater context of South Africa and reveal how their request to repeal the Act would affect the rest of the country.