Part 14 (2/2)

MWANZA, NELSON PETER. First Malawian princ.i.p.al of Chancellor College, University of Malawi, Mwanza was born in northern Mzimba and educated locally at Zomba Catholic Secondary School and Goromodzi High School in Southern Rhodesia. He studied at the University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland and proceeded to Ohio State University, which awarded him MSc and PhD degrees in botany. In 1966, he joined the faculty at Chancellor College and became its princ.i.p.al in 1971. In July 1975, Mwanza was dismissed from his job and, later that year, was arrested and detained without trial. Released in 1977, he joined the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya; a few years later he became an employee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the 1980s, he retired to Mzuzu where he chaired the committee preparing the groundwork for the new University of Mzuzu. In July 2000, he was appointed vice chancellor of the university, retiring in 2008. In 2009, he was elected on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ticket as a member of the National a.s.sembly for Mzuzu, and in June that year, he was appointed minister of lands, housing, and urban development. In August the following year, he became minister of agriculture and food security.

MWANZA ACCIDENT AND TRIALS. On the night of 18 May 1983, four leading Malawian politicians were murdered in Mwanza district: d.i.c.k Matenje, member of Parliament for Blantyre, secretary general of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), and minister in the office of the president; Aaron Gadama, member of Parliament for Kasungu and minister for the central region; Twaibu Sangala, member of Parliament for Dedza and minister of health; and David Chiw.a.n.ga, member of Parliament for Chikwawa. On the previous day, they had been arrested near the Likangala Bridge on the ZombaBlantyre Road as they drove to the latter city after attending Parliament. They were taken to the eastern division's police headquarters in Zomba, and then to Mikuyu Prison for the night. On the following day, the four were taken to the MCP offices at Chichiri, and then to the Special Branch center in John Abegg House, Limbe, where they were interrogated and, in the evening, transported in a blue Peugeot to the Thambani Road in Mwanza district where they were murdered.

The killing squad, led by Aaron Mlaviwa, head of the police mobile force, deliberately executed their mission in a manner indicating a road accident. The bodies were placed in the car, which was then overturned. Directing the entire exercise was Macpherson Itimu, head of the Special Branch, who, according to evidence provided to a commission of inquiry into the incident, had been authorized by the then inspector general of police Mac J. Kamwana. The government issued press releases to the effect that the politicians had died in a road accident while escaping to Mozambique. Meanwhile, their burials, supervised by the police, were restricted to family members only, causing more suspicion among the general public.

The matter was never discussed in public until 199293 when freedom of expression was beginning to return to Malawi. In 1994, the new United Democratic Front (UDF) government appointed Judge Harris Mtegha of the Malawi Supreme Court to head a commission of inquiry into the Mwanza incident. Evidence was heard in camera but the report was made public in January 1995. The government followed this by prosecuting former President Hastings Banda, John Tembo, and the government ”official hostess,” Cecilia Kadzamira, on grounds that as a powerful ”inner circle,” they had to have been aware of the plans to murder the four politicians. The government team was led by the director of public prosecutions, Kamudoni Nyasulu, whereas the defense's lead lawyer was Clive Stanbrook QC, whom the MCP had hired in England. The judge was Maxon Mkandawire of the High Court. Banda never appeared in court in person because a medical report indicated that he was unfit to do so; Kadzamira was also not required to go to court in person. Things were different for Tembo. He had been arrested earlier and had spent some time in prison before being bailed out. He had to be present in court in person. The trial was attended by international observers, including the vice president of the World Council of Churches, Benjamin Masilo of Lesotho, and Craig Baab of the American Bar a.s.sociation. Toward the end of 1995, Banda, Kadzamira, and Tembo were all acquitted because of insufficient evidence to incriminate them. The government said it would appeal, but it never did. See also MTEGHA COMMISSION.

MWASE, GEORGE SIMEON (c. 18801962). Civil servant, political activist, and author, Mwase was born near Chintheche and educated at the Free Church of Scotland School at Bandawe. In 1905, the colonial government hired him as a postal clerk at Chiromo. He resigned a year later and moved to Northern Rhodesia where he worked for the government until 1920. Upon returning to Nyasaland, he was employed as a tax clerk before becoming a store manager and politician. He organized the Central Province Native a.s.sociation in 1927. During 1931 and 1932, he wrote A Dialogue of Nyasaland Record of Past Events, Environments and the Present Outlook within the Protectorate, an account of the Chilembwe uprising and life in Malawi. This typescript was discovered in the Malawi archives in 1962 by Robert Rotberg and subsequently published as Strike a Blow and Die (1967). Mwase played an active role in the Nyasaland African Congress, serving on its executive committee. Later, he became alienated from his Congress friends and, in the late 1950s, fell out of favor with the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland.

MWASE KASUNGU. Mwase Kasungu's Chewa kingdom developed in the 18th century as the influence of the Kalonga declined. The Mwase dynasty, centered at Kasungu, grew in power reaching its zenith between 1830 and 1890. Its salt was exchanged for cotton and iron hoes, and its active role in the ivory and slave trade with the Portuguese resulted in Mwase's considerable prosperity and influence in the 19th century. Mwase's territory bordered the Luangwa Valley, a major elephant region and, therefore, a favorite of Swahili-Arab traders. The most convenient route for the latter to the east coast via Nkhotakota pa.s.sed through Mwase's area. He established good commercial relations with the Swahili-Arabs, and bought guns from them to ward off Ngoni raids. However, when these trading partners tried to avoid the fees charged for pa.s.sing through his domain, Mwase quickly isolated them. He made a defensive pact with the Ngoni, who disliked the Swahili-Arabs and were not interested in trading with them. Soon the Swahili's attempt to bypa.s.s the shrewd Mwase failed. In 1863, David Livingstone visited Mwase and, in 1890, Karl Wiese, in the service of the Portuguese, also visited the Chewa chief. Mwase resisted British rule until 1895, when they defeated him.

The occupant of the office between 1937 and 1972 was one of the most remarkable traditional rulers in 20th century Malawi. In 1939, Chief Mwase spent some time at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, as research a.s.sistant in ciNyanja, and it was during this time that he met his distant relative, Dr. Hastings Banda, who had been in Great Britain for two years. When the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was formed in 1944, Mwase became a member, and, with chiefs such as Zintonga Philip Gomani, Mkhosi Lazalo Jere (M'mbelwa II), and Kuntanja, came to be identified with African political aspirations. In 1952, he became founding president of the Nyasaland Chiefs Union and, through it and the NAC, campaigned against the establishment of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Throughout the 1950s, Mwase remained a strong supporter of the NAC, siding with the radical wing of the party led by Henry Chipembere and Kanyama Chiume. In 1961, he attended the Lancaster House Conference as a representative of the chiefs. When the traditional courts system was inst.i.tuted in postcolonial Malawi, Chief Mwase was appointed chairman of the Traditional Court of Appeal, the highest court in that particular system. In 1972, Mwase was deposed and replaced by Chief Kaomba because he and a few other traditional authorities supported the return to Malawi of Wellington Manoah Chirwa.

MWASI, YESAYA ZERENJI (c. 18691955). One of the first three Africans to be ordained church minister in the Livingstonia Mission and founder of Mpingo wa Afipa wa Africa, Yesaya Zerenji Mwasi was born in Nkhata Bay, educated at Bandawe and the Overtoun Inst.i.tution, Khondowe, where by 1901 he was the session clerk. Bright and articulate, Mwasi completed the theological course in Khondowe in 1902, was licensed five years later, and in 1910 was a delegate to the Blantyre meeting that discussed the formation of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP). In May 1914, he, Jonathan Chirwa, and Hezekiah Tweya became the first Africans to be ordained pastors in the Livingstonia Mission. A highly independent thinker, one who was prepared to challenge the superiority complexes of some European missionaries, Mwasi was initially a.s.signed to Bandawe where in February 1915, Dr. William Y. Turner suspended him for insubordination. Eighteen months later, the Sanga congregation, just north of Bandawe, invited Mwase to be its minister. In 1918, he was elected moderator of the presbytery, the first African to hold the position and, three years later, became temporary clerk.

Mwasi's conviction that the missionaries applied double standards in their relations with the African clergy and African Christians never changed. He argued that all people should be treated equally and different opinions had to be discussed even if they did not please European missionaries. From 1932, he began to threaten that he would resign if the Scottish missionaries did not change their att.i.tudes and, in September 1933, he executed his threat, announcing the formation of his Mpingo wa Afipa wa Africa or Blackman's Church of G.o.d. He detailed all his ideas for an African-based church in his My Essential and Paramount Reasons for Working Independently, proceeded to organize his new church, taking with him many from his Sanga congregation. Influenced by Garveyism, Mwasi emphasized African self-reliance, which he argued could be partly attained through the opening of independent African schools and colleges. He hoped to obtain financial a.s.sistance from Tonga immigrant workers in other parts of southern Africa. He also established working relations with Charles Chinula of Eklezia Lanangwa. Mwasi was a founder of the West Nyasa Native Welfare a.s.sociation (WNNWA) in 1920 and, in the 1930s and 1940s, became active in Nkhata Bay politics, which would contribute to the demise of the Atonga Tribal Council. Mwasi died on 17 July 1955.

MWAVI. Poison ordeal used in many African societies to establish a person's guilt or innocence. According to this, the guilty party does not survive it, whereas an innocent person vomits the poison.

MWAYA. Located on the sh.o.r.es of Lake Malawi in Nyakyusa country, Mwaya has for a long time served as the northern terminus of the transportation system on the lake. For a long time, it was the main entry into Tanganyika (Tanzania).

MWENIWANDA. Located in the Ulambya plains in Chitipa district, in 1881 the Ncherenje section of Mweniwanda became the first site of the Free Church of Scotland Mission north of Cape Maclear. Chosen because it was on the road connecting Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika, Mwaniwanda was headed by Rev. J. Alexander Bain. In 1886, he was joined by Hugh Mackintosh, Dr. Kerr Cross, and, soon afterward, by the latter's wife, Christina. On 31 December 1888, Mrs. Kerr Cross died, followed a day later by Mackintosh. Dr. Kerr Cross abandoned the Mweniwanda mission and moved to Lutenganyo in Unyakyusa and then to Ngerenge in Ngonde country.

MWENISONGOLE, REV. ARAM NDOLEZI (19031958). Educationist and church minister, Mwenisongole was born in Chitipa and attended local schools before going to the Overtoun Inst.i.tution, Khondowe, where he pa.s.sed the standard six examinations and then qualified as a teacher. Around 1940, he completed the inst.i.tution's theological course and, after ordination, worked in the Karonga lakesh.o.r.e area. In the late 1940s, he was appointed manager of schools and minister in charge of Karonga Mission (Old Mission), the first African to head this station. In 1950, he transferred to Ulambya but, four years later, he was defrocked. He left the services of the Livingstonia Mission and became a teacher at Edingeni, the seat of the M'mbelwa Ngoni authority. In 1958, he fell ill, sought medical a.s.sistance at Mbeya, Tanganyika, and died there.

MWENZO. Located in Nanw.a.n.ga country in northeastern Zambia, in 1894 Mwenzo became one of the stations of the Livingstonia Mission. The first missionary there was Rev. Alexander Dewar, a.s.sisted by a Tonga evangelist, Yohane Afwenge Banda, whose stipend was paid by the Bandawe congregation and who would work at the mission until after World War I, establis.h.i.+ng himself as the longest-serving missionary at Mwenzo.

MZEMBE, REV. PATRICK C. Born in Nchenachena, Rumphi district, and educated at Livingstonia, Rev. Mzembe became the first African and Malawian secretary general of the Livingstonia synod. Throughout the 1960s and for most of the 1970s, Mzembe was, with Jonathan Sangaya and K. G. Mgawi, one of the most prominent churchmen in Malawi, and he commanded much respect, including that of Dr. Hastings Banda. a.s.suming this office in 1961, as Malawi was moving toward independence, Mzembe had to guide the churchstate relations very diplomatically, especially during and after the Cabinet Crisis, because some of the leading rebellious politicians, including Orton Chirwa, Rose Chibambo, and William M. Kanyama Chiume, came from his synod's strongholds. During the numerous political detentions a.s.sociated with Albert Muwalo and Focus Gwede in the mid-1970s, Rev. Mzembe acted equally cautiously when discussing the matter with President Banda. In the late 1970s, he retired to his village near Nchenachena.

MZIKUBOLA. Mzikubola is a Ngoni chiefdom located south of Mzimba boma and ruled by the house of the same name, with their headquarters at Emchakachakeni. The original Mzikubola was the son of M'mbelwa I and thus grandson of Zw.a.n.gendaba. Chifwede Jere, the Inkosi Mzikubola of the later part of the 20th century, was educated in Ghana, graduating with a BA, and worked as a civil servant in Malawi and, for over 10 years, was a diplomat attached to the Malawi mission in the United States. Chifwede Jere died in 2000, and his son, Masabani, succeeded in an acting capacity while waiting to retire from his full-time employment in the Malawi civil service.

MZIMBA. Mzimba is the boma of the largest district in the northern region of Malawi. The district covers the area under the Ngoni paramount rulers, M'mbelwa, who originally established themselves in the region in the 1860s. Mzimba boma was the administrative headquarters of the northern province until 1954, when Mzuzu took over this position.

MZUZU. With a population of just under 100,000, Mzuzu, the northern region's administrative headquarters and princ.i.p.al commercial center, lies on the Mzimba side of the border of Nkhata Bay and Mzimba districts. Its origin dates back to 1945, when the colonial government decided to establish a major tung growing area in the Viphya Highlands and appointed Charles Boardman as tung development officer. Two years later, Boardman identified a site on the Mzuzu stream as the nucleus of the tung project, which would develop under the full auspices of the Colonial Development Corporation (CDC). As the number of expatriate staff increased, and as many Africans moved to the area to seek employment, Mzuzu grew into a small urban center. In 1954, the provincial administrative headquarters moved from Mzimba boma to Mzuzu, increasing its population and size even more. The Catholic Church also transferred offices of the diocese from Katete in southern Mzimba to Katoto on the periphery of the new town. In 1958, Mzuzu Government Secondary School opened on the Nkhata Bay road and, in the early 1960s, the Catholic Church built the Mary Mount Girls Secondary School, the Mzuzu Technical School, and St. Luke's Hospital, which, until 2000, was the only such health facility in the city. In the late 1970s, the headquarters of the Livingstonia synod moved from Khondowe to Mzuzu.

In 1986, Mzuzu became a city and today boasts hotels and numerous motels and rest houses and is accessible via paved roads. It has an airstrip and is the location of Moyale Barracks, home of the Third Battalion of the Malawi Defense Forces. It is also the home of Mzuzu University and a large modern hospital built by the Taiwanese government.

MZUZU UNIVERSITY. Mzuzu University opened in 1997 and, like the University of Malawi, is a government-financed inst.i.tution. The university concentrates on information sciences and communications, education, environment, and health sciences, and on tourism and hospitality management. In 2010, there were 1,700 students enrolled at the university, and all were studying on a full-time basis. In May the following year, the university closed because of a large operational deficit, but it reopened two months later.

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NAMADZI. Located on the Namadzi stream on the ZombaBlantyre road, this small retail trading center was until the 1970s dominated by Asian businessmen who were forced to move to the larger urban areas because of Africanization. Adjacent to Magomero, Namadzi is inhabited by the Mang'anja, Yao, and Lomwe and is surrounded by tobacco estates, most of them owned by Europeans planters.

NAMALAMBE, ALBERT ”DON” (1860s1908). This Mang'anja teacher and preacher has the distinction of being the first African convert of the Livingstonia Mission. Namalambe first went to the mission at its Cape Maclear base in the late 1870s as a servant of one of Ramakukan's sons, who was a pupil at the school. He became a student and an a.s.sistant at the mission, was baptized in March 1881, and, that year, moved to the new mission headquarters at Bandawe, where he became a teacher and preacher. In 1884, he returned to Cape Maclear to take charge of the school and station, and would remain there until 1908 when he died. Namalambe played a major role in improving relations between the Maseko Ngoni ruler, Chikusi, and the Scottish missionaries, and in convincing the Ngoni to allow the establishment of a mission station at Livulezi.

NAMb.u.mA. This area in Lilongwe district is one of the leading tobacco- and maize-producing areas in Malawi, and in the colonial period it was part of the share-cropping region dominated by European planters such as A. Francis Barron, Roy W. Wallace, and Ignaco Conforzi. The area is also a major center of the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC).

NAMITETE. Located on the LilongweMchinji border, Namitete is a tobacco-growing region of Malawi, a station of the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), and a major Roman Catholic mission station, with a large school and a hospital.

NAMIWAWA, BLANTYRE. This low-density suburb of Blantyre is located on the western side of the city, between the city center and Mitsidi. Namiwawa is a common place name in Malawi, and it refers to a stream lined with mahogany trees.

NAMOKO, ALAN. This singer, popular mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, is famous for his compositions with messages of a social nature. See also MUSIC.

NAMw.a.n.gA. Cultivators and cattle keepers, the Namw.a.n.ga live in northeastern Zambia and in precolonial times were famous as iron smelters and smiths, trading with other peoples, including the Nyiha and Lambya in today's Malawi. Groups of them would settle in the Chitipa area.

NANGALEMBE, JOSEPH. A popular singer in the 1970s and 1980s, mainly because of the satirical nature and social content of his songs, Nangalembe was raised in Mulanje district. See also MUSIC.

NANKHUNDA. This major Roman Catholic mission station, located on the western side of the Zomba mountain, was established in 1912 by Bishop Louis Auneau. In February 1928, the Montfort priests left Nankhunda in order for the first Minor Seminary to be established there, the initial 50 students coming from the Nguludi Normal School in Chiradzulu district. Before the seminary at Kachebere was established in 1930, most of the early Catholic clergy went to the Kipalapala Major Seminary in Tanganyika to complete their studies.

NAPOLO. According to Malawian belief, Napolo is a python that resides below the Zomba mountain from which it occasionally travels subterraneously to Lake Chilwa via the Mulunguzi River, which flows from the mountains into the Likangala, a main supplier of water to the lake. It is further believed that Napolo's movements can be detected by certain environmental changes, including the sudden drop in lake levels, which could indicate its migration back to the mountain.

In recent times, the name Napolo has been much a.s.sociated with the powerful cyclone, which, while blowing westward from the Indian Ocean through Mozambique, stalled over the Zomba area, bringing much rain and causing death and considerable damage to property and roads. The cyclone hit Zomba on Friday afternoon on 13 December 1946, and did not blow eastward until Sunday, 15 December, during which 20 inches of rain had been recorded in the town. Landslides had demolished two villages on the western side of the mountain, killing 20 people; water overflowed the Mulunguzi and other streams, bringing with it ma.s.sive boulders and trees; nearly all bridges and culverts in Zomba town were destroyed; and the water supply and the electricity generating plant on the slopes of the mountain were disrupted for some days.

Napolo has been immortalized by, among others artists, the Paseli Brothers in their popular composition ”Napolo Wachabe,” and by Steve Chimombo in his collection of verse Napolo Poems and Napolo and the Python.

NASAWA. This site in the northern part of Chiradzulu district was once part of the A. L. Bruce Estates but, from the 1960s to the early 1990s, it was famous as the main training base of the Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP). Nasawa was also the home of the MYP Technical College, where the more able youth leaguers were trained in vocational fields such as masonry, joinery, and motor mechanics.

NATION, THE. One of the leading newspapers in the postHastings Banda Malawi, The Nation was founded by Aleke Banda in 1992 as a voice for political reform in the country. In the period leading to the 1994 elections, the paper championed strongly the United Democratic Front (UDF) Party, Aleke Banda's political affiliation, which formed the new government in June that year. After Aleke became a cabinet minister, his family took charge of The Nation and, although at times it was critical of government's actions, it supported them generally. From the beginning of the 2000s, the newspaper adopted an independent position, and it has become a highly respected newspaper of wide national circulation.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF MALAWI (NAM). Located in Zomba and established in 1947 as part of the Central African Archives, the archives were reorganized under the National Archives and Publications Act of 1974. The NAM's princ.i.p.al function is that of a main depository and manager of government records and any other literature concerning Malawi. Many other records and ma.n.u.scripts, including those of private individuals, major and minor firms, and those of the Universities' Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), the Livingstonia Mission, and the Blantyre Mission are deposited at the NAM. The National Archives Library is the national library of Malawi and the main collector, recorder, and preserver of literature pertaining to Malawi. It has branches in Lilongwe and Mzuzu, and from the mid-2000s, it began to modernize, including moving toward digitalization.

NATIONAL a.s.sEMBLY. This is the elected parliament of Malawi, and it has 193 members who, according to the Malawi Const.i.tution of 1995, must face direct adult suffrage elections every five years. Following the 2009 elections, there were 114 members of the Democratic People's Party (DPP), 25 of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), 17 of the United Democratic Party (UDF), and 32 independents. The following parties had one member each: Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), Maravi People's Party, and Malawi Forum for Unity and Development (MAFUNDE). There was a vacant seat due to the death of a candidate.

The Const.i.tution allows for a bicameral system, with a second chamber, the senate of 80 members representing traditional rulers and interest groups such as the disabled and the youth. However, there is no senate as of yet, and the one chamber National a.s.sembly has continued to be the only law-making body in the country, and through its deliberations it influences the manner in which government formulates and executes policy. Deliberations are broadcast on radio and television and, regularly, members ask cabinet ministers or their deputies questions on public affairs and on matters affecting their const.i.tuencies. Through the various parliamentary select committees, the National a.s.sembly has oversight powers over various government ministries and, unlike in the time of Hastings Banda's era, the National a.s.sembly or its committees have to approve some of the major appointments made by the executive wing of the state, including amba.s.sadorial positions. The a.s.sembly

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