HC Deb 18 December 1958 vol 597 cc1281-3
4. Mr. E. L. Mallalieu

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations what consideration is being given by Her Majesty's Government to the setting-up of a special independent commission to investigate the causes of ritual murder in Basutoland.

8. Mr. J. Johnson

asked the Under- Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations if he is aware of the anxiety felt by leading people in Basutoland about medicine murder; and whether he will consider having an official inquiry, the members of which would include an English judge and an anthropologist.

Mr. Alport

This matter was considered by the Basutoland Council on 20th March, when it rejected a proposal by a member of the Council for an independent Commission and unanimously supported the continuation of joint efforts between the Government and the Basuto people to deal with the problem. An Anti-Liretlo Committee was accordingly set up, and its report is now awaited.

Mr. Mallalieu

Would not the hon. Gentleman agree that in a matter of this sort it is best to act with full knowledge of the facts? Does not the hon. Gentleman's statement indicate that if the Government propose to hammer away, at any rate they will hammer away in ignorance on this very important question?

Mr. Alport

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman is not aware that an investigation has been made into this matter. But I believe that the unanimous judgment expressed by the Basutoland Council is the correct one. I do not think it does a service to Basutoland constantly to highlight this particular phenomenon, which appears in different forms in various parts of Africa and which I am quite convinced the vast majority of the Basuto people are as anxious as we are to stamp out as quickly as possible.

Mr. J. Johnson

While recognising that this is not unique to Basutoland—it happens in Sierra Leone, Nyasaland and other places in Africa—is it not a fact that there has been disquiet about methods of taking evidence from witnesses in the past? Is it not a fact that this ritual murder is in some way tied up with disputes over chieftainship? Would the hon. Gentleman think again about this question?

Mr. Alport

That is certainly the conclusion reached in the Jones Report. Disagreement about the methods of the police is a different matter, and I should have to deal with that separately.