The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has launched a campaign of organized bloody violence and intimidation across parts of Southern and Eastern Malawi in what political analysts describe as a desperate attempt to survive the forth coming electoral battle.
The Pangolin Online has established, through a series of investigations and testimonies from aspiring parliamentarians and local government councilors across party lines, that DPP operatives have been systematically targeting political rivals with brutal attacks, midnight raids, and threats of death.
The campaign is concentrated in the so-called Lhomwe Belt and Eastern Region, areas the DPP regards as its last strongholds.
The wave of terror comes only weeks after a disturbing incident at a DPP rally in Lilongwe, where an MCP supporter was severely injured in broad daylight. Eyewitnesses told The Pangolin Online that the victim was cornered and hacked with pangas as he tried to protest DPP’s move to pull down MCP flags ahead of Arthur Peter Mutharika’s rally in the area.
The victim, identified as Daniel Mdeba, 38, was initially treated at Likuni Hospital but our follow up has established that he is now admitted at Kamuzu Central Hospital where he is recovering from severe loss of blood due to heavy cuts he sustained.
Accounts from victims paint a grim picture of the DPP’s tactics.
In Mulanje, a female aspirant from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), a breakaway movement linked to Kondwani Nankhumwa, said she was threatened with “fatal consequences” if she did not stop holding rallies.
“They told me I am a traitor to Mhlakho. They said I do not deserve to walk or drive in the Lhomwe Belt because the roads here were constructed by the Mutharikas,” she told The Pangolin Online.
Another victim, a UTM aspirant in Mulanje, recounted a night raid by masked, panga-wielding men.
“They tied my guard, broke down the doors, and demanded that I stop campaigning immediately or risk the lives of my family. I promised them that I will stop my activities in the area just to protect my wife and children, who were crying in terror. They even threatened to burn down my house,” he said, his voice shaking as he pointed at scars left from the beating.
In Zomba, a female aspirant for the People’s Party (PP) said she was confronted by unknown men who delivered a blunt message: “withdraw your candidacy or face death.”
“I was told my life would be in danger if I did not. They knew details about my movements and my children’s school. It was chilling,” she said.
Reports have also emerged from across Zomba, Machinga, Balaka, Mangochi, Mulanje, Thyolo, and Phalombe of similar attacks, threats, and intimidation directed at aspirants and supporters of MCP, UTM, PDP, and PP.
Our investigation has traced the violence to organized “terror squads” managed by senior DPP figures.
In the Lhomwe Belt, the campaign is being led by notorious party enforcers Jomo Osman and Mike Chitenje, both long associated with political violence. They are said to be reporting directly to DPP Regional Governor Charles Mchacha and parliamentarian Sameer Suleman.
In the Eastern Region, coordination is being handled by DPP Deputy Secretary General Daud Chikwanje, who has enlisted Richard Wyson and Romeo Bwanali to oversee violence and intimidation in Zomba, Machinga, Balaka, and Mangochi.
Chikwanje is currently on bail following his arrest last year over a video clip where he was mobilizing DPP supporters to set on fire any person putting on MCP regalia.
Village headmen and chiefs are not spared either.
Sources say they have been threatened with dethronement or violence if they grant permission to non-DPP parties to hold rallies in their jurisdictions.
The Pangolin Online recently reported that the DPP has formed a task force to coordinate violent attacks across the country and this new revelation is said to be within the grand plan of this task force which is headed by Norman Chisale.
When contacted for comment, Charles Mchacha, the DPP Regional Governor for the South, offered a defiant and cryptic response: “I do not have a comment for now. What we do in the Lhomwe Belt is not for people like you to write. We will ensure APM victory no matter what.”
His statement underscores growing fears that the DPP is willing to flout electoral laws and resort to violence in order to secure the return of APM to power at all cost even if it means shedding blood.
The Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), when asked about the escalating violence, stressed that the country’s electoral laws guarantee every Malawian the right to campaign freely.
According to the electoral laws all aspirants are free to campaign anywhere as long as they are Malawian citizens and those who obstruct this right through violence or intimidation faces prosecution.
Political observers argue that the DPP’s violent tactics are a sign of desperation, not strength.
“The DPP is losing its grip on the South and knows that the Lhomwe Belt and Eastern Region are gone and no longer guaranteed strongholds. Resorting to thuggery is their way of trying to choke multiparty competition. But Malawians have seen this before and are unlikely to be cowed,” said one political analyst.
As Malawi inches closer to the elections, the stakes could not be higher. The DPP’s intimidation campaign threatens not just individual aspirants but the democratic process itself.
The scenes of blood, pangas, and masked men evoke dark memories of the DPP 16 year-rule where by party cadets became the law and caused havoc across the country without being checked by the Malawi Police Service.
Unless law enforcement and MEC take urgent steps to rein in the violence, the upcoming election risks being tainted by fear rather than freedom.
