Inside Tanzania Witchcraft Economy: Albino Killings and a Hidden Human Crisis

[ZaraBae]

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – Sixteen-year-old Juma’s voice trembles as he recalls the night that scarred his life. “They think we’re ghosts,” he says, touching the wounds where attackers tried to hack off his limbs. Juma is one of Tanzania’s estimated 17,000 people with albinism—and one of the few survivors of a deadly trade that has turned human beings into commodities.​

Welcome to the Tanzania witchcraft economy, a billion-shilling underworld where body parts from people with albinism can fetch up to $75,000, and where elderly women are accused of sorcery and murdered in their hundreds each year. A billion-shilling trade sustained by superstition, poverty, and political exploitation has turned human beings into commodities.

The Price of Being Different​

In Tanzania, being born with albinism can mean living with a death sentence. The genetic condition, which affects 1 in every 1,400 Tanzanians—seven times the global average—has transformed children like Juma into hunted prey.

Since 2000, at least 75 people with albinism have been murdered for their body parts, according to advocacy group Under the Same Sun. The real toll is likely higher. Limbs, skin, and hair are harvested—often while victims are still alive—for potions that witch doctors claim bring wealth, political success, or fertility.

The danger spikes during election seasons, when politicians are rumored to purchase charms made from albino body parts. In 2015, cases of attacks and mutilations surged, with more than 150 incidents reported as the nation prepared to vote.

The Forgotten Victims​

The Tanzania witchcraft economy does not only target people with albinism. Each year, between 500 and 700 elderly women—mostly widows—are murdered after being accused of witchcraft, according to the Legal and Human Rights Centre. From 2005 to 2011 alone, more than 3,000 such killings were recorded.

Seventy-three-year-old Nyamizi, her hands still scarred from a machete attack, explains how jealousy and land disputes drive many accusations. “They said I caused a child’s death,” she whispers. “But it was envy. Widows are easy targets.”

A Deadly Economy Built on Fear​

Behind the killings lies a sophisticated black market. With 93% of Tanzanians believing in witchcraft—the highest rate in Africa, according to Pew Research—traditional healers (waganga) thrive by selling rituals and medicines made from human remains.