TUNDUMA, TANZANIA Zambian citizen, Phillip Zvaipa Zimhindo, crossed the border into Tanzania to buy cheaper rice. At a market, he was approached by a young boy who persistently tried to pressure him into buying rice from one specific vendor. When Phillip repeatedly refused, the boy mobilized an angry crowd. He made up a story that the man had touched him and magically made his genitals disappear.
Phillip Zvaipa Zimhindo
Without verifying the boy’s claim in any way, the crowd began a brutal lynching. Phillip suffered severe head injuries. Before the mob could put a tire on him and set him on fire, police arrived, stopped the attack, and transported Phillip to a hospital. Unfortunately, he later died from his injuries.
Across Africa, mass hysteria and a folk superstition about genital theft is currently spreading. Some people are believed to possess a magical ability to make a penis completely disappear or shrink simply by touching it. In some cases, the superstition applies only to the testicles.
