Rainfall & more – 19th Oct 2023

Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 19th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

Malawi went from having very hot days to having wet and cloudy ones. If you recall, the country experienced a heatwave with temperatures rising as high as forty-five degrees Celsius (or 113 Fahrenheit), instead of the usual twenty to thirty degrees Celsius (or sixty-eight to eighty-six Fahrenheit).

On Monday the 16th, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services warned that the weather would do an abrupt switch to a cold climate, because of heavy rainfalls that would mainly affect the Southern and Central regions. They also said that from Tuesday the 17th till Thursday the 19th, the rains might be severe enough to cause damage.

On Wednesday the 18th, they warned that Malawi is likely to experience floods starting November till next year.

Now, local news coverage indicates that most damage is in villages, where infrastructure is built using substandard materials like mud instead of cement.

By the evening of Tuesday the 17th, local news had already started reporting on rain-related accidents. For instance, the rains damaged infrastructure in Dowa and Kasungu districts. News reports said that affected structures included a classroom block at Nalikonda Primary School in Dowa and some houses.

In Kasungu, lightning killed two people and injured four others. They were all in the same house, hiding from the heavy rains, when the incident happened.

The rains are usually sudden with strong winds and lightning. They are catching a lot of people off guard because they start off slow, get heavy very quickly, and keep falling for hours.

The Scorchers, the Malawi women’s national football team, won the Hollywoodbets Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (or Cosafa) cup. This is a first since the Scorcher’s establishment in two thousand and two.

The wave of good news started on Friday the 13th after the Scorchers beat Mozambique in the semi-finals of the Hollywoodbets Cosafa Women’s Championship in Pretoria, South Africa, with two goals to one.

During the final match on Sunday, the 15th, Malawi played against Zambia and won after scoring two goals to one.

The Scorchers also won all the matches in the group stage.

For over two years, truck drivers had been asking for higher salaries, but their requests were unanswered. So, on Monday the 16th, the truck drivers went on strike—they abandoned their vehicles at the country’s borders. Over forty trucks were carrying over 1.5 million liters of fuel, while others carried stock for local businesses.

Grey Chisale, the General Secretary of the Truck Drivers Union of Malawi, said the drivers would only resume work after their demands were met.

By Tuesday the 17th, most fuel stations across the country had run out of fuel, causing long queues.

On Thursday the 19th, local news revealed that on Tuesday the 17th and Wednesday the 18th, the truck drivers engaged with their employer, the Transporters Association of Malawi. They said they would increase their salaries from 140 thousand Kwacha or 120 dollars, to 300 thousand Kwacha, or 260 dollars, starting next January.

Steven Tembo, the Deputy Spokesperson for the Professional Truck Drivers Association, said they would resume work and do fuel deliveries.

Still on trucks, on Friday the 13th, The Lilongwe City Council said they would have to get permits worth one hundred thousand Kwacha, or ninety dollars, to enter the City.

This only applies to trucks with a net weight exceeding fifteen tonnes. Tamara Chafunya, the Spokesperson for the Council, said the permits will only be valid for twenty-four hours, and that trucks will only be allowed to enter the city between 7 PM and 5 AM.

Now on to other news, Mzuzu University will be re-opening on Monday the 23rd. Recall that the school closed last month after the students protested against their new school fees. The students caused havoc across the city, burning tires and looting stores.

On Thursday the 19th, Yonamu Ngwira, the University Registrar, said the students would have to sign commitment forms to re-register at the school, and also pay the adjusted school fees which the students had protested.

Some of the new fees are 650 thousand Kwacha or 560 dollars, up from 400 thousand Kwacha or 345 dollars per academic year for face-to-face learners. Open distance learners will now pay 600 thousand Kwacha or 520 dollars up from 350 thousand Kwacha or 300 dollars per academic year.

The university’s re-opening will mark the beginning of the second semester.

Kombucha drinks contain alcohol, despite being branded as healthy and non-alcoholic. Laboratory tests have proven that they contain alcohol as high as eight percent, instead of the recommended level of 0.5, making them stronger than local alcoholic beverages like Carlsberg’s Green and Kuchekuche beers. Local and international brands produce Kombucha drinks and the alcohol percentage is the same, so this is not an isolated incident.

According to the Malawi Bureau of Standards and the Competition and Fair Trading Commission, false claims about a product’s contents attract a fine or even a prison sentence.

Did you know that Malawi’s first and last Grammy Award nomination was in twenty sixteen, when the Zomba Prison Project’s album, I Have No Everything Here, got nominated under the category of Best World Music Album? Well, Malawi might get another nomination this year.

Over the weekend, Tay Grin, a local musician, asked his fans to stream his song Tcha so it could be nominated for a Grammy under the West Africa Music Performance category.

Grin has already submitted his song and is waiting for feedback, but he and some fans are hopeful about getting nominated.

Speaking of nominations and awards, on Sunday the 15th, the President Hotel in Lilongwe was awarded “The Best Hotel in Malawi” prize at the World Travel Awards that took place in Dubai.

The Minister of Tourism, Vera Kamtukule, broke the news on her Twitter account with a short video showing the award.

The entertainment scene has faced a shocking loss, following the death of beloved musician Thomas Chibade on Wednesday the 18th.

According to local news, Chibade had been unwell for some days. The cause of his death is somewhat unclear, as some sources said he had malaria while others said he had a liver problem. But all of them said that he had been admitted at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe at the time of his death.

On Thursday the 19th, Chibade’s uncle, Richard Makala, said Chibade would be laid to rest on Saturday the 21st in his home village, Zomba.

One of his last performances—a quirky video of him performing a live set of his old music—is now trending on social media. You can check it out with the link in our show notes.

Moving on to trending news, would a heartbreak make you smash another person’s car?

On Saturday the 14th, in Lilongwe, people shared a video of a man smashing all the windows of a vehicle with a brick in front of an amused crowd. Rumor has it that the man in the video was smashing a car that belonged to his wife’s lover because he had just found out the two were having an affair.

The video was called into question, as the man could just have divorced his wife. Still, some thought the lover deserved the “punishment”.

In our last bit, four elephants raided Chikhang'ombe village in Kasungu district, causing fear among the residents.

An anonymous witness told local media that the elephants escaped from Kasungu National Park on Thursday the 12th, and have been roaming in the village, damaging fields and crops. On the morning of Friday the 13th, game rangers tried directing the elephants back to the National Park, but they failed. As such, unfortunately, some villagers started pelting stones at them, attempting to chase them away.

The residents are concerned about getting the elephants back to the National Park since it is quite far from the village.

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

Before we leave, we have a quick question for those following us for a while. How are we doing on bias? Ax grinding? We try to be independent and stick to the facts and context. How are we doing? Do we seem even a teensy bit biased? We are happy to see the Rorshok Malawi community is growing and want to be the best at what we do! Tell us your thoughts and opinions at malawi@rorshok.com

Pitani bwino!