During the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) government, the autonomy of the MBC was much compromised. The senior management tended to be political appointees, and programs were expected to support the views of the party and government. Dr. Hastings Banda"s speeches and attendance of ceremonies, no matter how long, were broadcast live, and repeated in the evening, to ensure that everyone could listen to them. This was sanctioned by the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Act, which in effect restricted access to Malawi airwaves to those opposed to the government. In the period leading to the referendum, the MBC continued to be an organ of the MCP government and refused to broadcast debates between the various parties.
After the change of government in 1994, discussions took place regarding the repeal of the act and its replacement by the Communications Act, which would allow for the establishment of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA). The latter, an independent body, would control communications services by way of license providers. This way it was hoped that the MBC would be truly autonomous and open to different political views. However, by 2011, the bill to effect these changes had yet to be pa.s.sed, and the MBC act remained operational with the effect that the MCP and other opposition organizations complained of the United Democratic Front (UDF) government"s domination of the broadcasting corporation. By and large, the corporation tends to side with whichever government is in power, and the UDF has also expressed misgivings about the dominance of Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika"s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) over the broadcasting organization.
MALAWI COMMUNICATIONS REGULATORY AUTHORITY (MACRA). Under the authority of the Communications Act (Section 3) of 1998, MACRA replaced the Malawi Telecommunications Corporation Ltd. as a regulatory body of all matters concerning broadcasting. It was one of the organizations that replaced the Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Corporation, which had until then dealt not only with certifying the telecommunications industry, including the broadcasting and postal sectors, but also had ensured fair compet.i.tion and had acted as an arbiter of disputes between various parties in the general field. See also MALAWI BROADSCATING CORPORATION.
MALAWI CONFEDERATION OF CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (MCCCI). This umbrella organization of business and industry in Malawi goes back to 1892 when Europeans in the emerging commercial agricultural sector established the Agriculture Chamber of Commerce. As the business sector grew in the early 1900s, it changed its name to the a.s.sociated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) to reflect its expanded role as the mouthpiece of trade and industry as a whole. After independence from British rule, the ACCI and the various African commercial organizations amalgamated to form the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
During Dr. Hastings Banda"s Malawi Congress Party government, the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry had a low profile but, with the liberalization of the economy and politics in the post-1994 period, it became one of the most influential a.s.sociations in the country. The government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) began to take seriously its p.r.o.nouncements on the economy, and its secretariat, manned by well-trained personnel, regularly issued reports on economic trends in Malawi. In 2000, the Malawi Chamber of Commerce and Industry changed its name to the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
MALAWI CONGRESS PARTY (MCP). On 2 March 1959, a State of Emergency was declared in Nyasaland, and the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) was banned and its leadership jailed. In September of that year, the released Congress members were permitted by the Protectorate government to form another political organization. Accordingly, in September 1959, Orton Chirwa, a lawyer of the NAC, having been released early, founded the Malawi Congress Party, becoming acting president, with Aleke Banda as the secretary general. Dr. Hastings K. Banda, still in Gweru prison, was kept informed of Congress activities. Membership in the MCP grew quickly and an aggressive broadside, the Malawi News, propagated the party"s position. The MCP refused to negotiate with British officials until Dr. Banda was released from prison. When Banda left Gwelo in April 1960, he found that the administrative skills of the ChirwaBanda team had provided him with an efficient political machine.
One of the early actions of the MCP was the effective mobilization of African opinion against the Monckton Commission, which most Malawians proceeded to boycott. The Lancaster House Conference, called by the British government in London in July 1960, agreed to a new Const.i.tution and designated elections for the following year. In the months of preparation for those elections, Dr. Banda worked closely with local MCP members, choosing the candidates carefully. In the election campaign, the MCP had promised voters advancement in the civil service, modernization of agriculture, better education, and a neutral foreign policy. When the August 1961 election results were announced, the MCP had won every (20) lower roll seat and one-quarter of the upper roll for a total of 23 seats in the Legislative Council (LEGCO). Banda a.s.sumed the post of minister of natural resources. Governor Glyn Jones soon granted 7 of 10 of the Executive Council"s seats to the MCP.
The most serious break in the unity of the Malawi Congress Party was the Cabinet Crisis of September 1964. As a direct result of the challenge to power represented by that event, an MCP convention of October 1965 adopted a Const.i.tution that made Malawi a one-party state. Furthermore, the new Const.i.tution, effective in 1966, established Malawi as a republic with a president who was the head of the government and army. The National a.s.sembly, which in theory was the seat of authority, could be called into session or dissolved at the president"s will. As a practical consequence, the power lay with the president and the ruling party. Candidates in the 1966 election ran unopposed and, in 1971, the election was aborted by Banda and all nominated candidates were considered elected.
The president"s control over the MCP permitted him to exert immense influence over the members of Parliament. Disagreements with the president resulted in a loss of party membership; and by law, no one could retain a parliamentary seat who was not a member of the MCP. A 1973 victim of this law was Aleke Banda who had been a loyal supporter of the president for many years. Since the MCP was the only party permitted in Malawi and because it was effectively controlled by the life president, most Malawian citizens regarded the government and the party as synonymous. In the 1974 party const.i.tution, it was stated that the MCP was the government of Malawi; subsequently, party officials were given priority over equally ranked government officials. Party control was held by Dr. Banda and his executive committee, a.s.sisted by regional and district committees, and, at the base of the political pyramid, area and local committees. Whereas the district committees met monthly, the area and local committees met biweekly and weekly, respectively. Often at the regional level, the government ministers and party officials were one and the same. Through Press Holdings Ltd., the MCP and Banda, who was chairman and the major shareholder, managed to control a significant segment of Malawi"s economy. Press Holdings had investments in tobacco estates, an oil company, the Commercial Bank of Malawi, a chain of supermarkets, the manufacturing industry, and many other ventures.
The MCP was able to use its considerable authority to enlist community support for the success of rural self-help schemes or new government projects. When there were citizen grievances, the MCP would alert the government on behalf of the populace, or, conversely, monitor it for antigovernment activities. In this regard, the League of Malawi Women, the Youth League, and the Young Pioneers played a major role as guardians of what the party stood for.
In the period 199294, the MCP strongly resisted moves toward multiparty politics, arguing that such a step would encourage disunity in the country. It lost the referendum in 1993 and, in the following June, it lost power to the United Democratic Front (UDF). Banda retained the presidency of the MCP but, in effect, Gwanda Chakuamba, the vice president, led the organization. After Banda"s death, Chakuamba was elected president of the party, amid signs of disunity, as some would have preferred John Tembo. In the 1999 elections, the MCP formed an alliance with the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) but lost to Bakili Muluzi"s UDF. However, it gained some seats in the northern and southern regions, especially in Nsanje district, the home of Chakuamba. In 2008, John Tembo was the MCP"s presidential candidate, and he formed an alliance with the UDF, with high hopes of winning. However, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika retained the presidency, and the MCP lost many seats in the National a.s.sembly, even in the central region, which has always been its stronghold. After the elections, there were calls from within the party for Tembo to relinquish its leadership in favor of a younger person.
MALAWI COUNCIL FOR THE HANDICAPPED (MACOHA). In 1972, the Malawi Parliament pa.s.sed an act enabling the formation of an organization with a specific mission to handle problems a.s.sociated with the handicapped. This was the birth of MACOHA. Besides vocational training and rehabilitation, MACOHA raises funds to help it further its aims, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) is one of its major supporters. MACOHA has a tie-dye workshop in Lilongwe but is more famous for its weaving factory at Bangwe, near Limbe, which produces, among other items, mats, bedspreads, and wall hangings. In 1997, the factory caught fire, leading to damage and loss of property and jobs on the part of the many disabled who manned it. It was rebuilt and has returned to its normal functions.
MALAWI COUNCIL OF CHURCHES. This a.s.sociation of most Protestant churches in Malawi was const.i.tuted in 1939 as the Consultative Board of Federation Missions. In 1942, it became the Christian Council of Nyasaland, and in 1964, the Christian Council of Malawi. It changed its name again in 1998 to the Malawi Council of Churches. Among other functions it coordinates on matters that affect member churches and acts as their mouthpiece whenever they present joint opinions on politics, religion, the economy, and society. After the 2009 presidential elections, the Malawi Council of Churches issued a statement urging John Tembo of the Malawi Congress Party to concede rather than continue to challenge the results.
MALAWI DEMOCRATIC PARTY (MDP). One of the political parties formed in 1992 to exert more pressure on President Hastings Banda to liberalize politics in Malawi. The founder of the party, Kamlepo Kalua, campaigned for political reform from South Africa where he used Channel Africa of the South African Broadcasting Corporation to transmit his views to Malawi. Compared with the United Democratic Front (UDF), Malawi Congress Party (MCP), and the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), the MDP is a very small organization. It contested the 2004 elections as part of the Mgwirizano Alliance of several parties. It did not win any seats in Parliament, and in 2009, it did not contest, although Kaluwa"s statements suggested that he tended to support the UDF. Although small and not represented in the National a.s.sembly, it continues to be vocal, especially on issues such as corruption, human rights, education, and health.
MALAWI DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (MDC). This holding company, established in 1964 with direct responsibility to the president of Malawi, is charged with developing new enterprises in mining, commerce, agriculture, and manufacturing. Initially, funding was from Great Britain but, later, the government controlled the shares of this holding company, which until recently had equity in nearly 60 enterprises. Between the MDC, Press Corporation Ltd. and the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC), an intricate, often confusing, interlocking directorate existed, as each parastatal owned a portion of the other and its subsidiaries.
By the mid-1980s, the MDC was being managed so badly that the European Community (now the European Union) had to a.s.sist in its restructuring and it reduced by half its equity interest portfolio. By the end of the decade, the MDC was enjoying rising profits. At the behest of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the postHastings Banda government embarked on a program of privatizing some of the enterprises controlled by the MDC. Among those that had gone through the process by 2010 were Optichem (Malawi) Ltd., Portland Cement Company, Brick and Tile Company, Packaging Industries (Malawi Ltd.), Cold Storage Company Ltd., and Agrimal (Malawi) Ltd.
MALAWI FINANCIAL POST. In 1992, this weekly was the first alternative publication to appear in Malawi, thereby breaking up the domination of the pro-Banda/Malawi Congress Party Malawi News and the Daily Times. The weekly quickly identified itself with the advocates of political reform, particularly the United Democratic Front (UDF) Party. Its editor, Alaudin Osman, had previously edited the Daily Times and, for most of the 1980s, had worked as a senior journalist in Botswana. He was later to be President Bakili Muluzi"s chief press spokesman, and after the 1999 elections, left public service to return to private enterprise. See also NEWSPAPERS.
MALAWI GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (MGDS). Started during the 20067 fiscal year and due to last until 201011, the MGDS is a broad program of the government"s development objectives and guidelines for government departments, parastatal organizations, the private sector, civil society, and donors in making policy relating to the socioeconomic development of Malawi. Its six princ.i.p.al interrelated priority areas meant to meet the Millennium Development goals are agriculture and food security, irrigation and water development, integrated rural development, energy generation and supply, and management of HIV/AIDS and nutrition.
The MGDS is a revision of the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy (MPRS), which in 2004 the incoming government of Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika argued was inadequate in attaining the targets of the Millennium Development goals. Most of the funding for the MGDS is from external agencies. See also FOREIGN AID.
MALAWI HEALTH EQUITY NETWORK (MHEN). Established in 2000, this body brings together individuals and organizations in Malawi interested in advancing quality health and access to good health services for everyone. Comprised of 50 varied organizations, including training inst.i.tutions, MHEN seeks to attain its aims through, among other means, research, influencing government policy, and raising funds from donor agencies. It has a six-person board of trustees and has working relations with human rights organizations in Malawi, and with international nongovernmental organizations, such as Equinet Africa, Health Initiative in Africa, and Equity in Health.
MALAWI INSt.i.tUTE OF MANAGEMENT (MIMS). Located just outside Lilongwe on the road to the international airport, the Malawi Inst.i.tute of Management was established with the a.s.sistance of the Canadian government in the late 1980s. It serves as an in-service training center for middle and upper level management personnel, and since the early 2000s has an arrangement to offer tuition on behalf of the University of Derby in England for its master"s degree in management. In the 21st century, the inst.i.tute has become a key center for training and upgrading personnel in various aspects and levels of management in the private sector and in public service, including the military, government, and parastatal organizations.
MALAWI INVESTMENT PROMOTION AGENCY (MIPA). This Lilongwe-based agency was created in 1991 by an Act of Parliament and is charged with the responsibility of promoting private and foreign investment in the country. The MIPA helps to create an attractive atmosphere for investment by, among other things, ensuring that investors do not contend with bureaucratic and minor impediments in their endeavors.
MALAWI POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY (MPRS). Influenced by the new ideas of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank of dealing with poverty in developing regions, the Malawi government in 2002 announced a plan, the Malawi Poverty Reduction Strategy, to act as a framework for the public service and other parties interested, and involved, in the country"s development and in solving problems of poverty by empowering the poor. There were four areas that became the project"s princ.i.p.al guidelines: growth that focused on the poor, through investing in rural Malawi, and through promoting substantive and lasting natural resources, by effective agricultural research and extension; development of human capital, mostly in health and education; bettering the quality of life for the needy and insecure; as part of good governance, defined by, among other things, sensitive and efficacious public inst.i.tutions, ensured security and affordable justice. See also ECONOMY; MALAWI GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY.
MALAWI PRESS. See PRESS CORPORATION LIMITED.
MALAWI RIFLES. See ARMY.
MALAWI SOCIAL ACTION FUND (MASAF). Created in 1995, this plan aimed to promote and support self-help community-based development projects such as water and sanitation, education, energy, health services, and transportation. It is decentralized in the sense that the main office provides funding, mostly from donor agencies, and if necessary, some expert advice, but the priorities are decided by communities and at the district level. It is a way of vesting power to individuals, households, and communities in choosing and implementing projects that improve their socioeconomic well-being. Another objective is that decentralization also enables the poor rural communities with the possibility of greater savings and investment. There are three stages of the plan: MASAF 1: 1995 to 1999; MASAF 2: 1999 to 2003; and MASAF 3: 2003 to 2015.
MALAWI YOUNG PIONEERS. See YOUTH.
MALEKEBU, DR. DANIEL SHARPE (c. 18901978). Born in Chiradzulu district, Daniel Malekebu, in 1905, became the first Malawian graduate of John Chilembwe"s mission to study abroad in the United States. By arrangement, Malekebu followed Emma Delany to the United States where he completed high school before going on to the North Carolina Negro College, now North Carolina Central University. Upon graduation, he entered the Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, qualifying as a medical doctor in 1917. He went on to study theology so that he could go back home as a medical missionary, which he did in 1926, his return having been delayed because the colonial government in Malawi feared the possibility that his arrival would rekindle pro-Chilembwe sentiments. Malekebu reorganized and administered the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) for over 30 years, placing emphasis on training nurses and teachers. He was a key personality in the Chiradzulu Native a.s.sociation in the 1930s, bringing to the government"s attention serious cases of injustice, and generally working to promote a better quality of life for those to whom he ministered.
MALEMIA. Area in Zomba district deriving its name from Yao chiefs who have ruled it since the late 1860s when they were forced to move from the Chikala Hills to Domasi by the actions of the ambitious Kawinga and by the push of the Maseko Ngoni into the Shire Valley area. It was Malemia with whom the Scottish missionaries had to negotiate before they could establish stations at Zomba and Domasi.
MALEWEZI, JUSTIN CHIMERA (1944 ). Vice president of Malawi since 1994, Malewezi was born in Ntchisi district in 1944, educated at Robert Laws Secondary school in Dowa district, before going to Columbia University in the United States, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in biology. Upon his return to Malawi in 1967, he became a teacher and then an education administrator, rising to the rank of chief education officer. Later he became a princ.i.p.al secretary and was promoted to the position of secretary to the president and cabinet, the highest civil servant in the country. In 1991, Malewezi fell out of favor with the Hastings Banda government and lost his job. In the following year, he became a founding member of the executive committee of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD).
However, by the end of 1993, Malewezi had joined the United Democratic Front (UDF). After the 1994 elections, he became vice president of Malawi, an office he retained in June 1999 when the UDF was returned to power, and he was elected to the National a.s.sembly as the member for Ntchisi North-East. He had the added responsibility as minister of privatization. In January 2004, he resigned from the UDF and joined Aleke Banda"s People"s Progressive Movement (PPM), becoming its vice president. Before the presidential and general elections of the year, the PPM and other parties formed an alliance, Mgwirizano, to present one candidate to oppose President Bakili Muluzi. At that stage, he resigned from the PPM and stood as an independent presidential candidate. He lost, but retained his Ntchisi North-East seat in the National a.s.sembly. In May 2009, he retired from active politics, and continued his work concerning health and development issues, including HIV/AIDS.
MALINDI. Located a few miles northeast of Mangochi, this site became one of the most important centers of the Universities" Mission to Central Africa (UMCA). Malindi became the home of St. Michael"s Teacher"s College and, later, St. Michael"s Secondary School. It also has a large mission hospital.
MALINKI, JAMES. Leading pastor in the SeventhDay Adventist Church and son of Morrison Malinki, James was a missionary in the Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo) for many years and is credited with pioneer work for his church in northern Malawi. He established mission stations at Luwazi in Nkhata Bay district and at Mombera in Mzimba, both of which became major religious and educational centers. In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Malinki the Certificate of Honour.
MALINKI, KALINDE MORRISON (c. 18701957). Educationist, evangelist, and friend of John Chilembwe, Morrison Malinki"s family was Ngoni, and he was taken into slavery by the Chikunda in the Tete area where he was born. His mother escaped to Mwanza on the MalawiMozambique border, taking her children with her and, later, they moved to Mpemba near Blantyre. In about 1884, Malinki became a student at the Blantyre Mission school. In 1892, he joined Joseph Booth"s Zambezi Industrial Mission where he befriended John Chilembwe and Gordon Mataka.
In 1897, already a teacher and preacher, he became a founding member of the African Christian Union whose main objective was to champion African interests. In this regard, he began establishing schools in which he emphasized self-reliance and sound education based on Christian principles. Chileka, north of Blantyre, became his main area of activity. In 1902, he affiliated with the Plainfield Industrial Mission at Malamulo, Thyolo, thereby becoming a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and, from 1904 to 1920, he was the church"s inspector of schools, covering the entire southern province. He became mission leader at Monekera in the Chileka, Blantyre, area and, in 1927, he was ordained pastor. Unlike his friend, Chilembwe, he advocated moderation and shunned militancy. However, despite these differences, and although he did not support the Chilembwe uprising, Malinki was briefly arrested in 1915, mainly because of his a.s.sociation with the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) leader.
MALOTA, DONALD. In 1878, Malota became an employee of Jonathan Duncan, one of the lay missionaries at Blantyre Mission. Malota was one of the mission employees whom Mrs. Christine Duncan taught privately in her house. Upon her death in 1883, Malota began to take care of the Duncan"s baby daughter and accompanied the bereaved family to Scotland, where he attended school for a year and was baptized. On his return, he taught at the mission and was regarded as an exemplary member of the African staff. In the late 1880s, Malota became involved in the ivory trade in which many European settlers, including former mission employees such as John Buchanan, were active partic.i.p.ants. Soon he chose to devote his time to business, obtaining the lease of 200 acres of land in Nguludi area and establishing D. Malota & Brothers. By 1900, he had planted 80 acres of coffee; he also grew maize and raised livestock, mainly cattle, goats, and sheep, and built a large modern house.
Malota was employed by Eugene Sharrer from whom he received a good salary. The latter job involved recruiting labor in the Ntcheu and Dedza area for European planters in the Shire Highlands. This was a highly compet.i.tive and violent business, which often included beatings, raiding and burning villages, rapes, and murder. In February 1901, Malota and his a.s.sistant, Mbatata, were charged with murder and condemned to death, but, in April, he escaped while on his way from Zomba to Blantyre, where he was due to be executed. He was never recaptured. In 1903, his Nguludi estate was sold to the Montfort Marist Fathers, a Roman Catholic order that had just arrived in the country. His other property was sold to European settlers and to Indians.
MANDA, EDWARD BOTI. This articulate clergyman trained as a teacher at Livingstonia and, after teaching at the Overtoun Inst.i.tution for some years, qualified as a minister in 1916 and was ordained two years later. In 1925, while a minister at Karonga, he was suspended from the church after he was convicted of misappropriating funds. He regained church membership a year later and was reinstated to the ministry in July 1929. A fiery, politically alert, and widely read preacher with a great interest in history, Manda had followed the fate of black Americans and their progress after emanc.i.p.ation. Manda is also a.s.sociated with the reemergence in the 1930s of the Chikulamayembe paramountcy over the Tumbuka-speaking peoples north of the South Rukuru River. With Saulos Nyirenda, he was a princ.i.p.al advisor to the movement for the recognition of the Chikulamayembe as the princ.i.p.al traditional authority of what would later be Rumphi district. In this, Manda was pitted against the M"mbelwa of the Ngoni whose advisors included Charles Chinula and Yesaya Chibambo.
MANG"ANJA. The Mang"anja are the original inhabitants of the Shire Highlands and the Shire Valley, and they const.i.tute the southern section of the Maravi peoples. Their language, ciMang"anja (ciNyanja), is basically the same as chiChewa. In the second half of the 19th century, most of the Mang"anja in the Shire Highlands fell under the rule of the various Yao chiefdoms that established themselves in the region.
MANGOCHI. Located at the southern end of Lake Malawi, Mangochi was until the mid-1960s called Fort Johnston. In 196465, Mangochi, Henry Chipembere"s home district, was a center of resistance to Dr. Hastings Banda and the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Antigovernment forces attacked the boma, killing a senior policeman"s wife, and proceeded toward Zomba but failed to cross the Shire River at Liwonde.
Mangochi district is also famous for four reasons: Malindi, one of the major centers of the Anglican church, is situated to the northeast of the boma; its beaches and resorts; its fishing industry; and as a major tobacco growing area.
MANGWAZU, TIMON SAM. Born in Kasungu and educated at Oxford University, he was the leader of the Malawi National Democratic Party (MNDP) and its presidential candidate in 1994. He spent a major part of the postcolonial period as an amba.s.sador, serving in, among other countries, Great Britain, West Germany, and the United States. In 1994, he lost his bid for the presidency of Malawi but was included in Bakili Muluzi"s first cabinet. Thereafter he retired from active politics.
MANJAMKHOSI, HILDA. This strong Malawi Congress Party (MCP) loyalist and longtime chair of the Lilongwe district League of Malawi Women was openly opposed to the democratization of Malawi and was one of the people angered by the Catholic Bishops" Pastoral Letter, "Living Our Faith," to the extent that she and others advocated punitive action against the clerics.
MANKHAMBA. On the banks of the Linthipe River, this is the location of the first Phiri Kalonga who would establish the Maravi state. It became their religious center.
MANNING, WILLIAM HENRY (18631932). One of the people much linked with the extension of British rule in the Lake Malawi region, Manning graduated from Cambridge University and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and served in the Indian army before transferring to central Africa, where he saw action in Rhodesia and British Central Africa in 189394. Three years later, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commander of the Central Africa Regiment, and he is particularly a.s.sociated with the campaign against the Ngoni chief, Mpezeni, in 1898, and the fort he used in this action was later named after him. From 1901 to 1907, he was inspector general of the King"s African Rifles, and during part of that time (19023), he commanded his armed force against Sayyid Muhammad "Abd Allh al-Hasan (Mad Mullah). In 1904, he was knighted and, between October 1907 and May 1908, he acted as governor and commander in chief of Nyasaland, a position he occupied on a full-time basis from 1910 to 1913 when he became governor of Jamaica. He served in the same capacity in Ceylon from 1918 to 1925. He retired in 1925. See also FORT MANNING.
MANTHIMBA. Located in present-day Salima district, Manthimba or Maravi was the headquarters of the Maravi state and became a major commercial center with links to the east coast, west to Bisa country, and south and southwestward to the Zambezia region.
MANUFACTURING. This relatively small sector accounts for between 12 and 25 percent of gross domestic product, employs about 4.6 percent of the labor force, and, because it is heavily dependent on the processing of agricultural products, is extremely seasonal. During colonial rule, local industries processed agricultural commodities such as cotton, tea, tobacco, and sugar for local consumption and for export. This industrial pattern did not change until the 1960s and 1970s when the production of import-subst.i.tution consumer goods was introduced into the economy, and the items concerned included cigarettes, household utensils, soap, soft drinks, beer, shoes, edible oils, and textiles.
This industrial policy has continued, as well as those directed toward expanding food processing industries and establishing small-scale rural industries. However, in the 1990s, the textile industry, particularly David Whitehead, faced challenges, mostly from imported secondhand clothes, and unsuccessfully tried to get government protection. Incentives promoting industrial development included protected markets, generous depreciation allowances on capital expenditure, customs duty exemptions, low-cost industrial sites, and popular liberal provisions for the repatriation of profits and capital. In the 1970s and 1980s, industrial activities were affected by external influences: worldwide inflation and the closure of the Mozambique border, both of which resulted in higher costs for raw materials, equipment, and spare parts.
The government recognized that regional development had to be balanced and it promoted new industries in Lilongwe and, to a lesser degree, in Liwonde. As Asians moved to designated areas of urban Malawi in the 1970s, Malawians who wanted to take over Asian businesses had access to government training in basic management skills. Through the Malawi Development Corporation (MDC) and the Investment and Development Bank of Malawi (INDEBANK), the government tried further to stimulate industrialization. In the late 1990s, the Malawi government began to privatize some of the industries managed by parastatals, even those directly a.s.sociated with the MDC. A significant number of the establishments that the MDC owned previously have been bought by Asian businessmen, many of whom have since the late 1980s come to dominate the manufacturing industry. Taking advantage of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the trade arrangement between the United States and African countries, many such entrepreneurs have invested in the apparel industry. Besides bilateral trade with countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe, Malawi is also a signatory of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States/European Union (ACP/EU) Economic Partnership Agreement, and such accords have a.s.sisted the small manufacturing industry to survive and thrive.
Although processing of agricultural produce, such as tobacco, tea, sugar, coffee, and cotton, dominates the manufacturing sector, Malawi also produces, among others items, edible oils and fats, blankets and rugs, mineral water, alcohol (including some spirits), bricks and roofing tiles, textiles, retread tires, fishing nets, cattle food stuffs, flour, matches, bicycle frames, and agricultural implements. See also TRADE.
MAPANJE, JACK (1944 ). Scholar of linguistics and one of Malawi"s leading writers/poets, Mapanje was born in Makanjira"s area, Mangochi district. He went to local primary schools, to Zomba Catholic Secondary School, and to Soche Hill College where he qualified as a teacher. After teaching for some years, he entered Chancellor College, University of Malawi, where he majored in English. In 1971, he went to the University of London and, two years later, he was awarded an MPhil in linguistics. He returned to teach at the University of Malawi but, within three years, he was back in London at University College to complete his graduate studies for which he was awarded a PhD. He then taught at the University of Malawi and was head of its English Department until 25 September 1987, when he was arrested and confined at Mikuyu Prison without charge. His arrest caused much international protest from individuals and organizations such as International PEN, the worldwide a.s.sociation of writers.
Mapanje remained in prison until 1991, when he was released. He and his family left for England where he taught at the University of York before joining the English Department at the University of Newcastle. Mapanje is a recipient of many literary honors, including the Poetry International Award, and is the author of, among others, Of Chameleons and G.o.ds (1981), The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison (1993), and Skipping without Ropes (1998). He has also held many important offices, including chair of the Linguistic a.s.sociation of Southern Africa Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) Universities. See also LITERATURE.
MAPANTHA, JOHN GRAY KUFA. See KUFA, JOHN GRAY.
MAPLES, BISHOP CHAUNCY (18521895). Born in Middles.e.x, England, Maples went to Charterhouse School before going to Oxford University. He graduated in June 1875, and in October was ordained deacon. In the following year, he joined the Universities" Mission to Central Africa as a missionary and left for Zanzibar, where in September he was ordained as a priest. In 1877, he was transferred to Masasi and Newala on the eastern side of Lake Malawi, and in 1886, he became archdeacon of Nyasaland and was posted to Likoma. With Father William P. Johnson, he established many schools on the eastern sh.o.r.es of the lake and at Likoma and Chizumulu. In June 1895, he was consecrated bishop of Likoma, but he drowned in Lake Malawi when the boat taking him to Likoma capsized.
MARAMBO. Located in a major elephant area greatly favored by Swahili-Arab ivory traders, Marambo, with Chasefu, became one of the important Livingstonia Mission stations in the Luangwa country inhabited by the Senga and Tumbuka speakers.
MARAVI. This was a state system established in the Lake Malawi area in the 16th century. Led by the Phiri matriclan, the headquarters of the state was at Manthimba or Maravi, not far from the southwestern sh.o.r.es of Lake Malawi. With the t.i.tle of Kalonga, the Maravi rulers expanded southward to the Lower Shire, westward to the LuangwaZambezi valley regions, and northward to Tumbuka and Tonga countries.
MASEKO, MPUTA. Son of Ngwane Maseko of the Swazi section of the Nguni peoples, Mputa led (in the 1830s) the northward migration of the Maseko Ngoni to the Songea area across the Rovuma River where they came in conflict with Zulu Gama"s successors. Under the leadership of Mputa"s brother, Chidyaonga, and, later, Mputa"s son, Chikusi, the Maseko Ngoni settled in the NtcheuDedza region in the 1860s and 1870s.
MASEYA, REV. THOMAS MPENI. Maseya was one of the first students at the Blantyre Mission school and was also one of the initial lay preachers. In 1894, he and other deacons, including Harry K. Matecheta and John Gray Kufa Mapantha, went to Lovedale Missionary Inst.i.tute for further training. Later he was ordained minister and served in various parts of the Shire Highlands. Maseya was an active member of the Blantyre Welfare a.s.sociation and the Southern Province Welfare a.s.sociation.
Ma.s.sINGIRE UPRISING. See MATEKENYA (PAUL MARIANO II).
MATAKA, GORDON. Of Yao affiliation, Gordon Mataka joined Joseph Booth at Mitsidi in 1892 and, with John Chilembwe, Morrison Malinki, and others, became one of the early Africans a.s.sociated with the Zambezi Industrial Mission (ZIM). In 1896, he was one of the local people involved in Booth"s African Christian Union, including the proposed Mlonda estate. In the same year, Mataka accompanied Booth to Durban, South Africa, but while there, their relationship changed as the Yao, influenced by Zulu opinion, became increasingly suspicious of Europeans as collaborators. Mataka and Booth never regained their former warm relationship.
MATAPWIRI. He was a Yao chief who, in the 1860s, settled in the area between Mulanje and Matapwiri from which position he controlled trade between the east coast and the Shire Highlands. He became a major foe of the British whose authority he much resisted until his defeat in 1895. His successors a.s.sumed the same chiefly name.
MATECHETA, REV. HARRY KAMBWIRI (?1963). This distinguished church minister became one of the first Malawian members of the Blantyre Mission even before the site of it was identified. As Henry Henderson and Tom Bokwito stopped in his village while looking for a place to build the mission, Matecheta joined them, becoming one of the early converts to Christianity and one of the first students at Blantyre. Upon his baptism, he added "Harry" to his name and, upon completion of his schooling, he became a teacher and preacher. In 1893, he established a substation at Nthubi in the country under the Maseko Ngoni. He returned to the area in 1898 and was there for many years to the point that he came to be known as the Yao missionary to the Ngoni. He gained the confidence of Inkosi Gomani I, ruler of the Maseko Ngoni, and was a frequent visitor to their Lizulu headquarters. In 1907, he became a student at the new theological school in Blantyre, completing the course in 1911, and on 9 April 1911, he was ordained a minister, four days before Stephen Kundecha, thereby becoming the first Malawian clergyman in the Church of Scotland. In 1951, he published a history of the Blantyre Mission, t.i.tled Blantyre Mission: Nkhani ya Ciyambi Cace.
MATEKENYA (PAUL MARIANO II). This leading prazero (owner of a large estate in preWorld War Portuguese Mozambique) was a dominant player in the politics and economy of the Lower Shire Valley and part of the Shire Highlands for a major part of the 19th century. Paul Mariano II built on a foundation laid by the first Paul Mariano, a Goanese from India, who used Quilimane as a base, and had traded in ivory, gold dust, and slaves in Mozambique. In 1854, Paul Mariano II and his brother, Bonga, led a successful conquest expedition to the Shire River region, and from then until the 1880s, he and his offspring would dominate the area between the confluence of the Zambezi and the Shire rivers in the south and the upper Ruo River near Mulanje. Behaving like a chief, Mariano changed his name to Matekenya; he and his Chikunda a.s.sistants engaged in the ivory and slave trade and terrorized the local people who opposed him.
Matekenya"s relationship with the Portuguese was tense, largely because it was felt that he was claiming dominance in an area that was theirs. In 1858, the Portuguese authorities imprisoned him twice, on a variety of charges; during the second time, he escaped from prison, reorganized his army of Chikunda retainers, and, in 1861, fought off a Portuguese attempt to rearrest him. With guns already in his possession and those he seized from soldiers sent to apprehend him, Matekenya and his well-equipped army moved farther north to the Chironje area of the Shire, where he stepped up his slave raiding activities, this time in the mainly Mang"anja territory. In 1862, he defeated Chief Tengani"s army, killing the chief, and proceeded to ransack the Khulubvi of M"bona. Although Matekenya died in the following year, his followers continued to be a menace in the Shire region as far north as Mulanje.
Both Matekenya"s successors, Paul Mariano III and Paul Mariano IV, took the name Matekenya and, in the main, behaved much as he had done, trading in ivory and slaves and, with the help of guns, imposing themselves on local populations. Also, like him they were always keen to cooperate with incoming Europeans in an attempt to isolate the Portuguese. It was not long before the Kololo and the Matekenya clashed. As the former moved into Ma.s.singire (Matchinjiri), as the area under Matekenya came to be known, the hitherto invincible prazero could not contain them. Unimpressed by this poor show of confidence, the Chikunda surrendered Paul Mariano IV to Portuguese officials and, in 1881, he was killed at Mopea en route to Quilimane. The Portuguese now went to the aid of the Chikunda in Ma.s.singire and, in May 1882, raised a flag at Pinda, next to the Kololo area. The Portuguese authority was short lived, however, as in 1884, the people of Ma.s.singire rebelled, citing an excess of Portuguese rule, including the tax system, lack of respect for local custom and tradition, and meddling in the appointment of chiefs, such as Paul Mariano"s successor. They destroyed Portuguese property, stole some of it, and proceeded to do the same to that of other Europeans, including the African Lakes Corporation (ALC).
The Ma.s.singire uprising forced the ALC to strengthen its alliance with the Kololo; the missionaries and the British government used it as an excuse to pay closer attention to Portuguese expansionist ambitions into the Lake Malawi region, which many British were beginning to consider as falling within their "sphere of influence." On their part, the Portuguese began to establish closer links with the Yao, whose relations with the missionaries were at times cool.
MATENJE, d.i.c.k TENNYSON (19291983). An educator turned politician, Matenje was born near Blantyre in 1929 and was educated at the Henry Henderson Inst.i.tute (HHI) and Blantyre Secondary School and qualified as a higher grade teacher at Domasi Teacher"s College. He also furthered his education at the University of Bristol, England, the University of Ottawa, Canada, where he established a reputation as a fierce debater, and University of Western Australia, Perth. He served as headmaster of Soche Day Secondary School and, later, was a.s.signed to the Ministry of Education headquarters. In 1971, he became a member of Parliament for Blantyre and, in the following year, was appointed to be minister of education. After a few years, he was transferred to the Ministry of Finance and, later, to Trade, Industry, and Tourism. In the late 1970s, he returned to the Ministry of Education, to which portfolio was added Youth and Culture. More significantly, in 1981, Matenje became minister and administrative secretary of the Malawi Congress Party. In 1983, he and three other politicians were killed in Mwanza district. See also MWANZA ACCIDENT AND TRIALS.
MATEWERE, GRACIANO, MSM, BEM (19262001). Commanding officer of the Malawi army from 1972 to 1980, General Matewere enlisted in the King"s African Rifles in 1947 and saw service in Malaya during that colony"s state of emergency. In August 1964, he was commissioned as lieutenant in the Malawi Rifles and in 1969 was promoted to brigadier, second commander of the First Malawi Rifles, and deputy army commander. In 1970, he became commanding officer of the First Malawi Rifles, and two years later, he was elevated to major general and was appointed army commander, the first Malawian to occupy this position. In 1980, he retired from the army, and for some time was a security officer at the Sugar Company of Malawi (SUCOMA).
MATINGA, CHARLES (1901?). A member of the Blantyre Native a.s.sociation, he became vice president of the Nyasaland African Conference (NAC) in 1944 and, on the death of Levi Mumba a few months later, Matinga took over the leadership of the party. He resisted Dr. Hastings Banda"s efforts to streamline the administrative and financial ends of the Congress. In 1948, he was relieved of his position for alleged mismanagement of Congress funds. He later left to live in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe).
MAXWELL, WILLIAM ALEXANDER (18831963). Cotton planter and owner of a ginnery, Maxwell was born in 1883 in Dumfrieshire, Scotland, where he trained as a carpenter. In November 1902, he went to Nyasaland and, in the following year, the African Lakes Company (ALC) employed him as a carpenter and miller and, from 1908, as a general handyman, a position that took him to most parts of the colony where the company had property. Just before World War I, he became a cotton planter in the Ngara-Nyungwe area of southern Karonga district and, during that war, he joined the Nyasaland Field Force and was part of the contingent that engaged the Germans at Karonga. After the war, he concentrated on cotton and on operating a ginnery, which had originally belonged to the British Cotton Growing a.s.sociation (BCGA). Maxwell died in Blantyre and was buried at his Nyungwe farm.
MBANDE HILL. Sacred hill and ritual center of the Ngonde. In the past, the area around it was the traditional headquarters of Ngonde rulers; earlier still, it was the seat of the Simbowe, whom the Kyungu dynasty overthrew at the beginning of the 17th century.
MBEKEANI, JANET. See KARIM, ZEENAT JANET.
MBEKEANI, WALES NYEMBA. Respected public servant and businessman and politician, Mbekeani was born in Ntcheu district and trained as a social welfare officer. He was also active in the politics of decolonization and, after independence in 1964, he became a diplomat, serving as amba.s.sador at a variety of Malawi"s missions. In the early 1970s, he returned to Malawi and became general manager of the Malawi Housing Corporation. In the early 1980s, he retired, becoming a farmer and businessman. In the early 1990s, President Hastings Banda appointed him to the cabinet as minister of commerce and industry, a position he retained until the elections in 1994, when he returned to being a full-time businessman.
MBOMBWE. Home of the Providence Industrial Mission (PIM) established by John Chilembwe in 1900. Located just south of Chiradzulu boma, it was a catchment area for European labor seekers, including the nearby A. L. Bruce Estate managed by William J. Livingstone, and was also in the heartland of thangata country. When Daniel Malekebu returned to Malawi in 1926 to take over leadership of the PIM, Mbombwe remained the headquarters of the church.
M"BONA. This territorial religious medium has its chief shrines in Thyolo and at Khulubvi. M"Bona is concerned with the larger good of the community, including prevention of droughts, epidemics, and floods. For centuries, the M"Bona cult has been a.s.sociated with the Mang"anja people now in the Lower Shire Valley. In the 14th century, the Mang"anja peoples intruded upon the Kafula inhabitants, seizing their shrine. Shortly thereafter the Phiri clan imposed its seniority, with the shifts of power within the Phiri hierarchy giving way in the 16th century to paramountcy by the Lundu. Each political takeover of the area included the appropriation of the cult and all its myths and rituals. Christian missionaries in the 19th century viewed the cult negatively, although both shared common points of a creative and powerful G.o.d, specialized priests, and prophetic traditions.
Mb.u.mBA. In matrilineal societies, mb.u.mba refers to dependants within the matriclan. The nkoswe is the guardian of the mb.u.mba. In patrilineal society, mb.u.mba would refer to dependants within the patriclan. President Hastings K. Banda viewed himself as the nkoswe of all the women in Malawi and he called them his mb.u.mba.
MCHAPE. This witchcraft-eradication movement began in the Mulanje district and swept through Malawi in 1933. The leader in Mulanje was Bwa.n.a.li Mpulumutsi (Bwa.n.a.li the Saviour); he and others like him conducted ma.s.s-cleansing ceremonies in villages for the purpose of eradicating or purging areas of all evil. Those villagers declared to be witches or sorcerers were given a medicine to cleanse them of their sins. The movement, which spread to neighboring Zambia and Tanganyika, was apparently fed, in part, by the various Christian churches" failure to vanquish evil (see MISSIONS). Newly initiated Christians believed that their new religion would end the rivalries and differences extant in their society. As AIDS has become a factor in the lives of many communities in Malawi, mchape-like personalities claiming to posses the ability to cleanse society of the evil of AIDS have appeared.
MCHINJI. See FORT MANNING.
MGAWI, KILLION GIBSON KAPOLOSALANKHULA (1931 ). One of the most distinguished pastors in the synod of Nkhoma and in the Church of the Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) in general, Rev. Mgawi was born in Chauwa near Nkhoma in Lilongwe district. His father, a first generation convert, was a full-time preacher in the Dutch Reformed Church and, after theological training and ordination in 1936, served at various stations in the district. As a result of this, Killion Mgawi went to several schools, including Nkhoma Boarding School, where among his teachers were Namon Katengeza, Samuel Ntara, and J. Lou Pretorius. After the Standard 3 level in 1946, he transferred to Kongwe Middle Primary School where he completed his primary education. In 1949, he returned to Nkhoma to train as a teacher and, upon qualifying as an English grade teacher in 1951, he taught for one year. In 1952, he went back to Nkhoma to join theological college with a view to becoming a pastor and, four year later, he graduated, was ordained, and was posted to Dzenza congregation in Lilongwe district. Three years later he moved to Mvera, and while there he spent some months in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Upon his return, he was posted to Mphuzi in Dedza district and was attached to the nearby Chongoni Leadership and Youth Centre.
From 1963 to 1968, Mgawi was general secretary of the Nkhoma synod, the first Malawian to hold the office, and in 1968 he became traveling secretary of the Student Christian Organization (SCO). Between 1972 and 1998, he served his synod, the CCAP, and the country in various capacities: as moderator of the Nkhoma synod, chairman of the Christian Council of Malawi, the Evangelical a.s.sociation of Malawi, the Malawi Council of the Handicapped, and chair of Cheshire Homes. He was also a member of several organizations, including the National Library Service, the 1992 Malawi National Referendum Commission, and International Observer to the 1994 South African elections. During this time, he served as a minister at Nkhoma and Mvera, and completed a bachelor of theology degree at the University of the North in South Africa. In 1998, he was invited to be minister at Kasungu, and that was his last position before retiring from church ministry.
MGWIRIZANO. Mgwirizano, which in chiChewa means cooperation or working together, was an alliance of seven parties for the purpose of contesting the presidential elections of May 2004. They were formed at the behest of some Christian clergy, mainly the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), the Catholic Church, and the Universities" Mission to Central Africa (UMCA), which were concerned with the multiplicity of opposition parties and the lack of a viable candidate to present an effective alternative to the ruling United Democratic Party"s (UDF) presidential nominee. Although, initially, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) and the National Democratic Alliance led by Brown Mpiganjira, were supposed to be part of Mgwirizano, they did not sign the cooperation agreement. In the end, the alliance members were the Malawi Democratic Party, the Malawi Forum for Unity and Development, the Movement for Genuine Democratic Change, the National United Party, People"s Progressive Movement, People"s Transformation Party (PETRA), and the Republican Party whose leader, Gwanda Chakuamba, became Mgwirizano"s presidential candidate. The alliance lost to the UDF"s Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika, whose share of the vote was 35.9 percent. John Tembo of the MCP had 27.1 percent and, with 25.7 percent of the vote, Chakuamba was third.
MHANGO, KAMBONDOMA. With Kanyoli Gondwe, Mjuma, and Mwendera, Kambondoma led the Kamanga and Henga rebellion against M"mbelwa Ngoni authority in 1879. He and Kanyoli formed the Kwenda and Sikwaliweni regiments, which they headed respectively. Having served under Ngoni command, the Majere-Henga, as the rebels came to call themselves, had learned the best in warfare with the result that their former rulers found them particularly difficult to subdue. In fact, the Ngoni succeeded only after Mwase Kasungu rendered some a.s.sistance. When the rebels realized that they were about to lose, they sent their families to the Karonga lakesh.o.r.e; the rebel leaders would follow them later, marking the migration of the Tumbuka-speaking people to Ngonde areas such as Kaporo and central Karonga.
MHANGO, MICHAEL BAZUKA KALWEFU (1939 ). Lawyer and businessman, Mhango was born at Kasote village, Karonga district, went to secondary school in Uganda, and after completing a teachers certificate course at Domasi Teacher"s Training College in 1961, taught in Karonga. In 1963, he went to study in Scotland, returning a year later. Thereafter, he taught math and science at Livingstonia Secondary School. In 1966, he was admitted to the University of Malawi, and, in 1968, became one of the first students in the university"s bachelor of law program, graduating three years later. He joined the legal firm A. R. Osman Company, and, in 1973, established his own law offices, Bazuka and Company. Mhango became a founder of the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) Party and its legal advisor. In 2004, he won the Karonga North-West const.i.tuency seat on the platform of the Republican Party, was appointed as minister of lands, housing, and surveys, and from 2006 to 2007 was the minister of justice and const.i.tutional affairs. In the 2009 elections, Mhango failed to retain his seat, and since then he has concentrated on his numerous businesses, having already virtually retired from his legal practice.
MHANGO, MKWAPATILA. Malawi journalist Mkwapatila Mhango was murdered along with his family in Lusaka, Zambia, in 1989. Active in the Malawi Freedom Movement, Mhango was critical of Dr. Hastings Banda and the Malawi Congress Party. The Mhango family, like Attati Mpakati a few years earlier, was killed by Malawi intelligence officials.
MHANGO, ROBERT SAMBO. Founding member of the North Nyasa Native a.s.sociation, Mhango was born and educated in Karonga and worked in South Africa before returning to Nyasaland in 1912, two months after the formation of the South African Native National Congress. In 1928, he and Simon Kamkhati Mkandawire became founders of the African National Church. See also AFRICAN WELFARE a.s.sOCIATIONS.
MIA, MUHAMMAD SIDIKI (1965 ). Businessman and one of the most prominent Muslim politicians in Malawi, Mia was first elected to the National a.s.sembly as the member for Chikwawa Mkombezi in 2004. In June that year, Bingu wa m.u.t.h.arika appointed him as deputy minister of mines, natural resources, and environment; two months later, he became deputy minister of transport and public works. In 2005, he joined the new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and, in September that year, he was promoted to minister of irrigation and water development. In May 2009, he was reelected to the National a.s.sembly, and in June was appointed as minister of national defense. In August 2010, he became the minister of transport and public infrastructure.
MICHAEL, IAN LOCKIE (1915?). Founding vice chancellor of the University of Malawi and a world authority on the history and teaching of English grammar, Ian Michael was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders, educated at various schools in England, and holds degrees (BA and PhD) from the University of London. He taught in schools in England and in 1949 accepted a lectureship in education at the University of Bristol, from which in the early 1960s he was seconded to the University of Khartoum, Sudan, where he was the first professor of education. In 1964, he was appointed chief executive of the new University of Malawi. In 1973, he resigned from the university to take the position of deputy director of the Inst.i.tute of Education, University of London. He retired in 1978.
MIGRANT LABOR. Since colonial days many Malawians have sought work outside their national borders, particularly in South Africa, Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia), and Zambia. With the introduction of taxation in 1892, it was increasingly important to earn enough money to pay taxes and to afford a Western education as well as to purchase European goods. Even before migrant laborers began leaving Malawi for neighboring territories, they had moved about internally seeking money with which to meet European requirements. Three-quarters of all migrant workers were men, 10 percent were women, and the remainder were juveniles, usually boys.
Although Dr. David Livingstone is the first known European to employ Malawi laborers, the African Lakes Company (ALC) was really the first to systematically recruit workers for other European business interests. In 1886, Tonga porters, enlisted by the company to transport goods within the country, so impressed the planters in the Shire Highlands that they soon began to employ thousands of them on their estates. No labor regulations existed pertaining to hours of work, wages, or conditions until 1895 when the Harry Johnston administration began to codify some rules, according to which workers could not be employed for more than 12 months at a time, after which they would have earned travel money to return home. In addition, laborers were to be housed and fed and their medical needs taken care of by the employer. The planters were most unhappy about the government regulations, which, they argued, only aggravated the labor shortage they were facing at the time. In fact, European planters sought labor in the planting season when the Africans preferred to cultivate their own land; it was also a fact that Europeans paid very minimal wages to their African employees.
When a labor bureau was established in 1901 to recruit and distribute workers, there were even more abuses, particularly when recruiting agents obtained the cooperation of the European government collector who would hand over African tax defaulters to them. The treatment these farm workers and porters received was shockingly poor even at that time, and it did not improve in the early 20th century when the railway company began to recruit workers to build its line. News of the railway"s ill-treatment of its workers reached the Colonial Office after the governor, Sir Alfred Sharpe, personally wrote about abuses he had observed.
Attempts to stop organized labor recruitment by the South African Chamber of Mines were led by missionaries, especially Dr. Alexander Hetherwick of the Blantyre Mission. With the men absent, village life was disrupted and the women left at home had to do their own work and that of the men. For many deserted families, it was an incredible hardship. There was additional strain in villages of Catholic conversion since the missions refused to recognize divorce, even though traditional law permitted it in cases of desertion. Mission opposition to labor migration proved futile as workers continued to leave on their own to do mine or farm work or domestic labor. By 1914, there were about 40,000 Malawians working in mines in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). The numbers of workers were in excess of 100,000 by the 1930s, with as many as one-third never returning home. It was at this time that the Protectorate government acknowledged the vast emigration and its effect on the remaining families. An effort was made in a series of agreements with neighboring countries to repatriate laborers after two years and to provide more suitable camp and travel arrangements. At the same time that the Malawi migrant was strongly influencing the economic development of Zimbabwe, he was also contributing to the underdevelopment of his homeland, severely straining the territory"s social structure.
From the 1920s to the mid-1960s, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) was another destination for Malawian labor, despite the fact there were no recruiting agencies for the country. The development of the copper belt attracted Malawians into that country, and some of them even went beyond to Katanga, Belgian Congo (Republic of the Congo), where copper was also being mined. When Zambia became independent in 1964, recruitment of Malawian laborers was discouraged because of the need to solve the local unemployment problem.
When Dr. Hastings Banda became the head of government, he discouraged Malawians from going to South Africa, saying that they would be too far from their families and would be exposed to the harsh urban life of the region. He tried to convince them that they could earn a living by cultivating cash crops. However, in spite of Banda"s efforts, Malawian laborers continued to leave the country in large numbers. In 1970, the Wit.w.a.tersrand Native Labour a.s.sociation (WNLA), popularly known as WENELA, recruited 90,000 workers and the Rhodesia Native Labour Bureau (RNLB) 2,000 for South African and Southern Rhodesian employers, respectively. The Malawi government forbade further recruitment after 1974 when a WENELA airplane crashed and killed 75 homeward-bound Malawian mine workers. Until mid-1977, the number of laborers was few, as low as 200 in early 1977. However, the Banda government responded to numerous requests by WENELA to resume recruitment, and about 20,000 trained workers were permitted to leave, much fewer than the 130,000 who were working in South Africa at the time of the crash.
In the early 1980s, the name WENELA was replaced by the Temporary Employment Bureau of Africa (TEBA), which continued to recruit on two-year contracts to South Africa, the latter"s mining industry being the largest user. In 1988, believing that hundreds of Malawi"s migrant miners were infected with the disease AIDS, South Africa sent them back to Malawi. Although the Malawi government has responded to this health crisis, mine owners continue to restrict Malawian labor into South Africa. In fact, the African National Congress governments, led by Nelson Mandela and his successor Thabo Mbeki, now completely restricts nonskilled Malawian labor from leaving the country, pointing out that, with high unemployment within their country, they have to take care of their citizens first before they can think of foreigners. However, since the change of government in South Africa, skilled and professional Malawians have been going to work there in considerable numbers. Until 1994, most Malawians in this category tended to go to Botswana, where the expanding economy was able to accommodate them. In the postHastings Banda period, Malawian professionals, mainly in the fields of education and health, have also sought work in the United Kingdom and North America. Nonprofessionals have followed suit.
Malawians who have gone abroad to work, joining some of those who did not r