A much-hyped anti-Smartmatic demonstration organized by Bon Kalindo and Sylvester Namiwa has flopped dramatically in Mzuzu. The protests were scheduled to start at 08:30 in the morning however, by 10:00am no one had showed up at the designated assembly point.
The northern city has of late been used as the stage for opposition protests but the residents have sent a clear message: it is tired of being a political battleground for interests that do not serve its people.
The demonstration started around 10:40 after Kalindo went around enticing people, especially vendors with cash to take part. Sources have revealed that despite this last minute effort, the protests were patronized by people ferried in lorries and busses apparently from the south especially Mulanje and Thyolo.
“Just by listening to the songs they were singing, it was clear these people weren’t from Mzuzu or even from anywhere in the Northern Region,” the source observed.
The assembly point for the failed demonstrations
The failed demonstration, reportedly backed and funded by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was aimed at discrediting the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC)’s planned use of the Smartmatic election management system in the upcoming September 2025 polls.
In random interviews, residents and business owners of Mzuzu overwhelmingly rejected the protest describing them as a disruptive political stunt with no local relevance.
“We are tired,” said Owen Nyirongo, a car spare parts dealer in the city. “They can’t organize these protests in Blantyre or Lilongwe—why is it always Mzuzu? This is our city, not a political playground.”
The boycott marks a significant turn of events in a region historically seen as passive in the face of national protests. Today, however, vendors and local residents stood their ground, instead of being caught in the political crossfire they choose to remain home, keeping their shops and market stalls closed.
The normally cautious business community cited past incidents of vandalism and financial loss as their main fear.
Sindile Nhlane, a hawker at Taifa Market, expressed frustration over the repeated use of Mzuzu for demonstrations driven by non-residents.
“Why are they coming thousands of miles to protest here? Last time we lost millions in merchandise. We don’t want this here. Akapange kwawo [Let them do it in their own region],” she said.
Kalindo and Namiwa, both from the Southern Region and associated with DPP’s Lomwe Belt stronghold, have in recent weeks escalated a campaign against the adoption of the Smartmatic system. Their central claim—that the system is prone to manipulation—has been widely debunked by electoral experts and MEC officials, who have clarified that the system will only be used for voter identification and results transmission, not vote casting or counting.
The no-show comes just days after a leaked audio allegedly exposed a disturbing plot by DPP operatives, including the party’s Youth Director Norman Chisale, to infiltrate the demonstrations with supporters dressed in police uniforms and stage a shoot-to-kill carnage intended to implicate the ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP). The audio has sparked outrage among civil society groups and drawn condemnation from human rights organizations.
The demonstrations in Mzuzu are part of a grand scheme being played out by the opposition led and being funded by the DPP to sabotage Malawi’s September general elections.
The plan is to use and fund civil society organisations to organize demonstrations across the country starting with the cities of Mzuzu, Blantyre and Zomba. The Pangolin Online laid bare this DPP-led opposition blueprint meant to undermine the electoral process, discredit the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC), and provoke nationwide unrest.
The Mzuzu boycott is seen by many as a rejection not just of today’s event, but of a broader pattern of political manipulation and abuse that dates back to the DPP’s time in power.
