reaches his century
Jan Raath
Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, the worlds oldest surviving ex-tyrant, turns 100 this year, according to what reliable authority there is. There is no proof of his birth date, so he wont qualify for a century-o- gram from the Queen of England.
Birth certificates were introduced in Malawi long after he officially decreed his birth date at 1906. It is no longer an offence to discuss his age, and 1906 is regarded as a fib.
Taken as fact now is 1897, if for no better reason than his British advocate named the year and thereby made it public record in the 1995 trial where Banda was acquitted of charges of ordering the deaths of four Malawian politicians.
Three years after the end of 33 years of Africas oddest dictatorship, Bandas reputation is still intact: a combination of juju and state terror. He is Ngwazi (spearman) Dr H Kamuzu Banda, the Former President. His excellency and life president have been dropped.
The staff at Mudi House, the former British governor generals residence in central Blantyre, still refer to him as the big man. The government provides him with vehicles, an administrator and maintenance staff for the uncut grass and dying pine trees in the expansive grounds.
Also provided for is Mama Cecilia Kadzamira, his former receptionist who, as the Official Hostess, terrified Malawians only slightly less than Banda did. It was not possible to exclude her, said an aide. She is the only one who knows how to handle the big man. She is now the Former Official Hostess.
South African neurologists testified at Bandas trial that his failing memory rendered him incapable of giving evidence. Requests for interviews are now declined for the same reason.
Two weeks ago he was visited by a choir from the Presbyterian church who sang and prayed for him. He couldnt hear the prayers. Occasionally he is taken for drives around Blantyre and the countryside of baobab trees and stunted maize stalks. Crowds stare silently, probably fearfully.
Kamuzu Highway in Blantyre is gone, replaced by Chipembere Highway, named after a colleague Banda chased into exile at independence. Kamuzu stadium is renamed Chichiri stadium, and Kamuzu airport in the capital is now Lilongwe airport.
The government has bitten off huge chunks of the vast financial empire he acquired during his rule. Two state residences he appropriated have been taken back, and the government is challenging the title to Mudi House.
In January this year, Banda finally lost his court battle for the Press Trust, which owned the Press Corporation, a multi- faceted consortium which he, with his former ruling Malawi Congress Party (MCP), owned.
With an annual turnover of one billion Malawi kwacha (R120-million) and embracing 60% of the economy, the Press Corporation was considered important enough by the World Bank and the IMF in 1982 to be lent money when its business collapsed and it threatened to take the rest of the economy with it. The Press Trust was set up to make the loans kosher.
An Act of Parliament has restored it to the government and denied Banda compensation.
Alarm broke out among Bandas relatives in August when he signed a mortgage on his Chayamba building, at seven storeys Blantyres tallest, for 25,5-million kwacha (R7-million). No one would tell them what he wanted the money for, and his relatives complain that Mudi House staff, most of whom are MCP officials, refuse to allow them to visit him.
Last week attorney Khuze Kapeta confirmed he had been engaged by the family to protect Bandas assets. Kamuzu is too old, he said. Gifts he may be giving out now cannot be out of his conscience.
The suggestions are that the MCP has been persuading Banda to hand over his assets to the party, which is considered capable of staging a comeback in elections due in 1999.
The Blantyre Printing and Publishing Company is the flagship of his still- considerable empire. It is now chaired by John Tembo, Bandas minence grise and uncle of Kadzamira.
In the shadows of upstairs Mudi House, Banda dreams on. As heads of state arrived in Blantyre for the Southern African Development Community summit last month, a statement of welcome from the Office of the Former President was broadcast on Malawi radio. It was killed by Muluzis officials by the next bulletin. None of the heads of state came to pay their respects to the Former President for Life.
ENDS