In Malawi’s Northern Region lies a perceived hotbed of violence: Karonga District. Currently, its council is grappling with 204 unresolved cases of violence dating back 2023. FESTON MALEKEZO guides us through Karonga, where we hear, firsthand, from victims. Shockingly, some have endured a decade in exile, haunted by a specter of the violence recurring. The root causes often stem from witchcraft accusations, disputes over chieftaincy and land.
In Zindi Village, Karonga District, Mirriam Chirwa’s life swings between hope and despair, marked by an upsetting encounter with violence.
In 2014, her house was ravaged by a mob fueled by accusations of witchcraft against her brother.
A decade later, Chirwa, now in her 60s, still struggles to rebuild her life.
“A person died in the community and people took it upon themselves to conclude that it was my sister who killed her through witchcraft. So, the mob came ranting on me and destroyed my house and took away everything I had. There was a bed, mattress, bags or rice and maize—all were gone,” she said.
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Ten years later, Chirwa, a sexagenarian, is still failing to recover
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“I still do not have a proper house. I am being taken care of by relatives,” she said worriedly.
And the brother, who moved out of the village and sought refuge in a location at Karonga, namely Boma Wandani Mpundaimu Chirwa, recounts events of December 24 2014.
His vehicle was involved in an accident and killed two people.
However, people believed that it was a witchcraft plot to cement his riches. That time, he had swathes of land, a proper house and, as a well-to-do fisher, fishing gear.
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“I was attending a funeral ceremony when, at 4pm, I received a message that my vehicle had hit three people, two of whom died on the spot. We rushed there and the information I got was that the accident was man-made. I had killed them. A day later, hordes of people came to my house at night and ransacked it,” Chirwa explained.
After the incident, Chirwa, aged 70 and now a father of 15, contemplated committing suicide.
In fact, his life has never been the same.
“All I want is to return to my home village. If there can be some sort of support, that will be welcome because I want to rebuild and settle in my village and die peacefully there,” he said.
His son, Wiseman Chirwa, said what pains him most is that there was no evidence. Still, they ended up losing everything.
Chirwa, businessman who was selling rice— lost his livestock; that is, seven cattle, bags of rice and maize and household belongings.
Along the way, some people were busted.
This got community members even more infuriated as it was believed that Chirwa masterminded their arrest.
One of the people who were arrested for allegedly taking a hand in the mob justice was Fenton Gondwe, 72.
At the time of this story, he seemed equally surprised that he was suspected of taking part in mob justice
“I am old now and, that time, I was around 60 years. Where would I be getting the energy to do that?” Gondwe sounded inquisitive.
Frazer Chatonda Chirwa is another suspected mastermind of the mob justice. He was arrested immediately after the incident. Till date, he denies wrong doing.
“The victim rushed to inform the police and got us arrested. If you crossed paths with him, you ended up being arrested. Imagine, I was in Nkhotakota at the time of the incident and came here in 2015,” he said.
These are just few of the many incidents of violence people in the district face, all of which emanating from witchcraft allegations, land and chieftaincy wrangles and, at times, political misunderstandings.
Aron Mwenelupembe, Secretary for Karonga District Peace and Unity Committee under the Ministry of Local Government Peace, Unity and Culture, said other negative things that are rampant in the district include failure to respect court judgements.
Mwenelupembe said where there are cases of violence, development is often retarded in the sense that property can be destroyed.
“Just recently, a woman was stoned to death over witchcraft issues. Some families have also been displaced due to various forms of violence. Currently, we have over 40 families that are in that situation. And when we look at cases of violence that have been recorded from last year, we have about 204. So, it’s a lot of work that has to be done in Karonga,” he said.
He said to reduce the cases, there is a need for concerted efforts and chiefs need to be on top of their work.
Senior Group Village Headman Malema 1 agreed that chiefs should the barricades against violence in communities.
Commenting on the spate of violence in the district, Evangelical Association of Malawi (EAM) said it has started implementing a three-year project called Churches United for Peace, Justice and Electoral Governance being supported by Bread for the World of Germany to foster peace and security.
Frazer Chinkhande, who is the Advocacy Programme Coordinator for EAM, said by working with like-minded organisations, progress can be made in stemming cases of violence.
“We have a place here in Karonga which is called Bengazi, which is named after a place in Libya, because of political violence. We also have the issue of witchcraft accusations. What we want is that people should live in harmony, sustain peace and also implement development projects in their localities,” he said.
Meanwhile, Paramount Chief Kyungu has said he wants cases of violence to be reduced.
“Co-existence is key to development,” Kyungu said.
Yet, for many families like the Chirwas, the scars run deep, leaving them displaced and destitute.
