Malawi Update – No More Exportation of Scrap Metal & more –1st June 2023

st of June: 2023

On Saturday the 27th, the Ministry of Trade and Industry issued a statement saying they had suspended the exportation of scrap metal.

Criminals are vandalizing public property so they can steal valuable metals and sell them. The government suspects that the criminals either sell the scrap metal to official scrap metal businesses, or the lawbreakers own scrap metal businesses themselves.

As such, the Ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Homeland Security, initiated a six-month ban to “sanitize the Scrap Metal Trade”.

They have revoked old licenses, and have stopped issuing new export licenses. During the ban, the two Ministries will review the laws handling Scrap Metals, among others. Link to the full statement in our show notes.

While locals think the ban is a hit to business owners, they have also acknowledged the heightened criminal cases concerning scrap metals.

Just last week—on Thursday the 25th—Chileka Police arrested two men for stealing core armored cables worth seven million Kwacha, or seven thousand dollars, along the runway at Chileka Airport in Blantyre.

Sergeant Jonathan Phillipo, the Public Relations Officer for Chileka Police, said they received a call from the airport on Thursday the 17th. They have arrested Dalitso Lizimba, an ex-convict, and Alfred Katchana, his accomplice, in relation to the crime. They are still looking for other culprits and will have all of them appear before the court after the investigations are complete.

Zomba City is also facing dire consequences of vandalism.

The Southern Region Water Board (or SRWB) is currently conducting maintenance works after criminals vandalized a pipe on Friday the 26th. The pipe supplies water to over six hundred thousand residents of the city.

While shedding light on the gravity of the issue, Duncan Chambamba, the Chief Executive Officer for SRWB, said the criminals tried to steal pipe anchors that connect the water pipes from the source. He said the vandalism also caused mud to flood their treatment plant, resulting in muddy water supplies to some customers. As a result, they closed the pipeline to avoid further damage.

He said the entity needs about 500 million Kwacha—or 500 thousand dollars—to buy new anchors and erect a concrete pillar to help hold the transmission pipe to rectify the issue. He expects the water supply to be restored by Sunday the 4th.

Unfortunately, this means the city will struggle to supply essential services. For instance, on Wednesday the 31st, Zomba Central Hospital closed down all operating theaters, and was forced to refer patients requiring surgery to Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, which is about an hour away.

Fredson Kambeni, the Principal Administrator for the Hospital, said they might need to refer other patients to nearby district hospitals, such as those in Machinga and Mangochi if the situation continues. He was scared of water-borne diseases at the hospital since their sanitation procedures were not being followed properly due to the water shortage.

Students from the University of Malawi (or UNIMA) at the heart of the city are also at risk of water-borne diseases.

The university is home to over six thousand undergrad students. The lack of water forced most of them to use nearby bushes as toilets since their toilets were unusable. Others used pit latrines from neighboring villagers who were kind enough to share theirs. Virginia Kajoloweka, an on-campus student at UNIMA, told local media that students trekked about 500 meters to access the villages.

She also revealed that both on and off-campus students were using Mulunguzi River to bathe and draw water for hostel use.

Fortunately, local media reported a positive twist of events. On Thursday the 1st, locals woke up to news that the water shortage had improved in some areas of the city. Duncan Chimbamba, the CEO of SRWB, said the board is supplying eleven million liters per day out of the required sixteen million.

This has made it possible for service providers, such as Zomba Central Hospital, to work more efficiently.

On Wednesday the 31st, Fredson Kambeni, the Principal Administrator for the Hospital, told local media that they were performing surgeries again, and were no longer referring patients to other hospitals, due to the improved water supply. He said water donations from entities such as Save the Children also helped get the hospital’s operations back on track.

Amidst all the news of vandalism, the country is still trying to recover from Tropical Cyclone FREDDY, which hit Malawi in February.

On Monday the 26th, Former Presidents Bakili Muluzi and Joyce Banda joined the government’s recovery efforts by launching the construction of houses for survivors of the cyclone. They said that they will construct ten houses in Mulanje, as the first phase of their initiative.

They intend to build at least one hundred houses in all affected districts.

In other news, if you recall, last week, the government arrested and relocated refugees to Dzaleka Refugee Camp from areas such as Lilongwe and Mangochi, because the law states that they should all live there. But many people and organizations, including the United Nations Peace Corps, thought it was a terrible move and an abuse of human rights.

On Thursday the 1st, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, the Minister of Homeland Security, ordered the immediate revocation of citizenship for over three hundred and fifty refugees who came from Burundi and Rwanda. He said the government will enforce the deportation of the refugees back to their countries.

He also revealed that the government will continue to review and revoke citizenship of all refugees who did not comply with the country’s legal processes for obtaining citizenship.

Ng’oma said this will help bring public order and security to Malawi.

ing twenty-three goals in the: 2022

Chawinga signed a deal with the Italian club until the 30th of June this year. She is on loan at Inter from Wuhan Jianghan University of China. Prior to this achievement, Chawinga won a Golden Boot award in her debut season in China as well as in Sweden.

Locals can expect to get more talented sportswomen, since FIFA, the world’s football governing body, approved a women’s football campaign that the Football Association of Malawi (or FAM) proposed.

On Thursday the 1st, Benjamin Kumwenda, FAM’s Technical Director, said the women’s football campaign aims to increase the number of girls playing football in the country by creating awareness and empowering girls through football. He revealed that this initiative is one of three football development programmes that FIFA approved for Malawi. The other two are club licensing and league development.

Kumwenda said FAM will launch the campaign in Lilongwe on Saturday the 3rd, in Mzuzu on Sunday the 4th, and in Blantyre on the 10th of June.

An unknown woman was found dead in Mzimba forest.

Enestina Mvula—a local from Kagugu Gondwe village in Mzimba – went to fetch firewood in a forest near her village on Tuesday the 30th. While on her quest, she noticed some dogs eating human body parts. Upon further inspection, she noticed a woman’s decomposed body under a tree. There was a rope tied around the woman’s neck and around the tree. Mvula alerted her fellow villagers, who then told the police.

Officers from Jenda Police Station said the post-mortem results showed the woman died of suffocation. They have concluded that the woman committed suicide. They have since appealed to the public to report any missing woman and help identify the body.

Aaaaaand that's it for this week! You may not know it but we do updates for some other countries too. If you know anybody who might be interested, let them know. Ready? Here they are, West to East: Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, Nigeria, Poland, Serbia, Turkey, Ethiopia, Georgia, Japan. Think of anybody?

Pitani bwino!