A whistle-stop rally by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential running mate Jane Ansah at Nsundwe, Lilongwe, descended into chaos on Wednesday after residents booed and jeered the former Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson, forcing her vehicle to unceremoniously speed off from the scene in disgrace.
Ansah, who infamously presided over the 2019 “Tippex election,” had used her podium to question the credibility of current MEC chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja and the electoral body’s ability to deliver a free and fair election.
But her remarks were drowned out as the crowd broke into chants of “Mayi Tippex, Mayi Madando”, mocking her notorious role in the annulled 2019 polls.
Tension escalated when Ansah made an unguarded remark suggesting that the sexual abuse and violence perpetrated against Nsundwe women in 2019 was “mere politics” and “exaggeration” by political activists and opposition parties.
That comment proved a breaking point.
“As a woman she should be more sensitive and know better. I and my daughter suffered abuse that day,” said one woman.
The crowd surged forward angrily, recalling the trauma of 2019 when DPP-sanctioned agents unleashed terror in Nsundwe. Homes were looted and burned, while women and children endured brutal sexual violence at the hands of marauding security forces and party-linked militia.
One of the women brought in court documented evidence that she got pregnant as well as sexually transmitted infection (STI) when several men descended on her and forced to have sex without using any protection.
Sensing danger, DPP cadres formed a protective ring around Ansah’s vehicle from which she was addressing the crowd in an attempt to whisk her away from the scene. However, the crowd without relenting pushed on ready to attack.
Alfred Gangata with the gun hoisted on his belt as he makes his speech
Taking cover as Gangata reaches for his gun, ready to face the angry crowd
In the chaos, Central Region DPP vice president Alfred Gangata who was with Ansah on the open vehicle, took out his gun, brandished it to the crowd, and threatened to shoot anyone who would dare approach the vehicle.
Although later claiming he was “joking,” Gangata’s theatrics only deepened the outrage.
“Of course that was a tense moment, but I was really not going to shoot at anyone,” he told The Pangolin Online.
Ansah’s return to frontline politics has rekindled bitter memories of the 2019 electoral fraud she presided over, where correction fluid (“Tippex”) was used to alter official tally sheets, handing the then-ruling DPP a fraudulent victory.
That result was nullified in a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, later upheld by the Supreme Court, forcing a historic 2020 fresh election.
Ansah resigned in disgrace and fled into self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom, only resurfacing this year to run alongside the same DPP that benefited from the rigging she oversaw.
Her ill-fated Nsundwe appearance is now being cited by analysts as proof that the wounds of 2019 remain raw — and that the DPP’s choice of Ansah risks reopening old scars instead of rebuilding trust.
