MALAWI: Deported Immigrants & more – 21st Jan 2025

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 21st of January twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

South Africa deported 600 Malawian immigrants who were being held in the country’s Lindela Camp.

On Wednesday the 15th, Mavuto Kalilombe, the Spokesperson for the Immigration Department in Mwanza District in the Southern Region, revealed that a riot had broken out at Lindela Camp due to overcrowding. As a result, South African officials decided to repatriate some Malawians, since most of them had improper documentation to live in their country.

Kalilombe said the 600 Malawians were sent back home via twelve buses, five of which arrived at the Mwanza border on Tuesday the 14th.

Still on immigration, in previous shows we reported that some Mozambican refugees fled their country due to post-election violence and went to Malawi.

On Monday the 20th, the Ministry of Homeland Security revealed that the refugees, who initially entered Malawi through Nsanje District in the Southern Region, have now spread to other districts in the region, including Chikwawa, Mangochi and Machinga. Only sixty-one refugees made their way to the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in the Central Region.

The Department of Refugees said that, as of Wednesday the 8th, there were over 3,900 Mozambican refugees.

Meanwhile, Vitumbiko Mumba, the Labor Minister, was accused of being abusive after he scolded an employee of NT Plastics Manufacturing Ltd in Lilongwe District in the Central Region. He scolded the employee for keeping the company operating after the Ministry had ordered it not to as it didn’t meet some labor requirements. For instance, they had one broken toilet for over one hundred employees.

Mumba made surprise visits to several companies, but when he got to NT Plastics on Thursday the 16th, they locked him out of their premises. When he got in, he scolded the company’s alleged manager, pulling her by the arm and raising his voice, you can find the link to a video in our show notes.

The Minister defended his actions on Friday the 17th. Later that day, local news said Zhouh Youn Fei, the Managing Director for NT Plastics, was arrested for defying the government's order to suspend operations.

On Monday the 20th, the Malawi Bureau of Standards (or MBS) followed the Minister’s example and made their own surprise visits to major shops across the country to check whether they were complying with relevant standards.

Wazamazama Katatu, the Communications Officer for the Bureau, told local media that their exercise was focusing on hygiene conditions, substandard products and expired products.

Later on Monday, local news said the Bureau had closed Sana Cash and Carry Shop located at Area 47 in Lilongwe for stocking expired products and over hygiene concerns.

Since then, the Bureau has urged locals to call its toll-free number, 462, if they come across expired or substandard products.

In other news, there are concerns over the issues that unqualified civil servants can cause.

This comes as Gospel Kazako, a renowned media personality and former Minister of Information, was appointed as the Board Chairperson of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi. He will serve in the position for the next two years. The Comptroller of Statutory Corporations confirmed the news on Monday the 20th.

The move raised questions as many wondered what credentials a media veteran could possibly lend to the energy sector.

At least some departments, like the Immigration and Road Traffic Directorate, may improve their services since the Office of the Ombudsman is planning to open its offices at the Directorate’s premises.

On Thursday the 16th, Grace Malera, the Ombudsman, said they need to identify why there are so many complaints of delays, bribes, and poor services at the immigration offices. She said the Ombudsman’s presence there will make it easy for them to monitor and document complaints and improve service delivery.

Speaking of improving services, on Friday the 17th, Airtel, a telecommunications company, released a statement saying they were planning to get more local fiber providers to help fix the network challenges they have been facing.

Over the past few weeks, Airtel customers have complained that their internet was lagging or inaccessible and that sometimes the network got so bad that they couldn’t make calls.

Airtel’s statement said that, during the festive season, their primary fiber link in Mozambique had prolonged downtimes and that power outages in Zambia also affected their services. The statement said the company’s cables were also vandalized, which resulted in intermittent data and voice services.

Be careful when driving down the stretch between the Mangochi to Monkey Bay road in the Southern Region since flash floods damaged part of it.

On Monday the 20th, local news reported that part of the road was cut off where Mtonda Primary School in Mangochi District is located. They said there had been some heavy rains the night before, on Sunday the 19th, leading to flash floods which broke off a section of the road.

The news said that one lane on the road is still passable - although at risk. They warned motorists to be alert to avoid any accidents.

On another note, The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs finalized the twenty twenty-five/twenty twenty-six Pre-Budget Consultations on Friday the 17th.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Malawi (or Icam) proposed that the Treasury increase the tax-free bracket from the current 150 thousand Kwacha, which is nearly ninety dollars, to 300 thousand Kwacha, a little over 170 dollars. Noel Zigowa, the Icam CEO, said this would help cushion employees from the impact of the rising inflation.

He also proposed that the Treasury introduce levies for public services like school and hospital fees to fund the provision of essentials.

Next up, the National Bank has become the first bank to reach a market capitalization of two trillion million Kwacha, which is 1.2 billion dollars, on the Malawi Stock Exchange. They have broken their own record, as they were also the first financial institution to reach a market capitalization of one trillion Kwacha, which is 580 million dollars, on the Malawi Stock Exchange last year.

While commenting on the news, Richard Tembo, a financial expert, said National Bank’s shares are very valuable and highly sought-after, hence these results. Local news confirmed this, as they said on Tuesday the 14th, that the bank’s share price went from a little over 3,900 Kwacha, which is two US dollars and twenty-five cents, to over 4,500 Kwacha, two dollars and sixty cents, by the close of market trading on Thursday the 16th.

In trending news, a video shared on Twitter on Sunday the 18th raised some concerns over the state of Zomba Mountain, located in the Southern Region.

The video, which now has over twenty-one thousand views, showed over thirty people passing through the city while carrying some wood. The people were probably coming from Zomba Mountain, where they cut trees and collected the wood.

Zomba is praised for its evergreen nature and the cool temperatures it brings, but this may be a thing of the past. Some comments on the video said Zomba Mountain is not as thick as it used to be, and others questioned what the Forestry Department was doing to control tree-cutting.

Luckily, some districts will benefit from a project worth over 400 million Kwacha, which is 372 thousand dollars, by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation. The project seeks to strengthen and scale up the adaptation of agroforestry systems. Agroforestry is an agricultural method that combines growing plants, raising animals, and preserving various trees.

According to a local news story shared on Tuesday the 21st, the initiative will help smallholder farmers improve soil health, crop productivity, and livestock nutrition, and enhance the capacity to adapt to climate change. The story also said at least thirty young researchers, 180 extension workers, and 1,500 direct beneficiary farmers will receive training through the project.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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Pitani bwino!