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Mail & Guardian
Golden Matonga

Creator

Golden Matonga

Golden Matonga is an award-winning journalist, columnist and blogger based in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe.

Charm offensive: Women shell maize in Malembo village in the Lilongwe district. When handing over fertiliser to Malawi, Russia’s ambassador suggested an alliance. Photo: Amos Gumulira/Getty Images

Russia’s fertiliser gift for Malawi comes with a catch

Moscow is giving fertiliser to Malawi in exchange for support for ending the global sanctions imposed on it

More than a year after the fatal Malawi Defence Force plane crash that killed Saulos Chilima, lawmakers have ordered forensic exhumations amid lingering questions over the official findings

Malawi vice-president charged in corruption investigation

The long-running inquiry is finally netting some big fish, including a former head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau

The fuel shortage in Malawi began a month ago, driven by an acute shortage of foreign currency that meant fuel couldn’t be imported.

Dearth of foreign currency drives Malawi’s fuel shortage

With its tobacco dollars going up in smoke, the country is struggling to keep its petrol-starved cars on the road

Crowded in: The Dzaleka refugee camp was built in 1994 to house 10 000 people and already it is home to about 52 000. (Fanni Uusitalo)

Malawi refugees in bitter fight against relocation

The Malawi government has said asylum-seekers will no longer be allowed to live outside the country’s only and heavily congested camp

Rounded up: Dzaleka, Malawi’s only refugee camp, was built for 10 000 people but now houses 45 000 people. (Fanni Uusitalo/UNHCR)

For decades, Malawi welcomed refugees. Then something changed

Citing security concerns, the government gave refugees just 14 days to report to the country’s only refugee camp

Shepherd Bushiri faces slew of new rape claims

Prosecutors’ extradition request details how Bushiri allegedly raped women as young as 17

Mutharika (front) and
Chisale (back right) during
a visit to the Scottish
parliament. (Photo by Ken Jack – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)

Meet Norman Chisale, Malawi’s richest bodyguard

Norman Chisale, the former Malawian president’s security chief, is struggling to account for his enormous wealth.

Malawi citizens buy urgently needed, basic Covid medical equipment

Poet and writer Stanley Onjezani Kenani sets up initiative to raise funds to buy oxygen cylinders and pressure regulators after friend dies at country’s biggest hospital

Diplomatic incident: Followers of self-proclaimed prophet Shepherd Bushiri and his wife Mary after their fraud and money-laundering case was postponed after an appearance in court. (Gallo Images / Phill Magakoe)

The president, the preacher and the great escape

Malawi’s new president was furious after Shepherd Bushiri’s dramatic disappearance from South Africa

Malawi court judges win global prize

Members of the small African country’s judiciary took a stand for democracy to international approval

Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi’s President. (Amos Gumulira/AFP)

Malawi’s new president is off to a good start

In 100 days of presidency, Lazarus Chakwera has been mostly well received despite a few glitches

Lazarus Chakwera, Malawi’s President. (Amos Gumulira/AFP)

Malawi’s new president defends controversial cabinet

Lazarus Chakwera’s post-election honeymoon did not last long

Lazarus Chakwera is sworn in after winning Malawi’s historic presidential election

The opposition presidential candidate won the vote by 20 percentage points, after last year’s poll was overturned because of irregularities

Irregularities: Members of
the Democratic Progressive Party celebrate the re-election of Peter Mutharika as president of Malawi in
May last year. The result was overturned by the Constitutional Court.
(Amos Gumulira/AFP)

Opposition are favourites on eve of Malawi’s presidential election

Polls suggest widespread dissatisfaction with the administration of President Peter Mutharika

Malawi’s Supreme Court affirms nullification of presidential election

Reiterating an already historical court ruling, the president’s election has once again been rebuffed

The judge who defied Malawi’s government to stop the lockdown

Standing up to abuses of power runs in Justice Kenyatta Nyirenda’s blood

Malawi became only the second country in Africa, after Kenya in 2017, and the fifth in the world, to see a president’s victory overturned in the courts.

Malawi’s president ordered a lockdown. The court said no

Trust in Peter Mutharika’s government is at an all time low — just when it’s needed most

Malawi’s Constitutional Court annulled the results of the May 2019 presidential election. (AFP)

Malawi Court bars South African lawyers from presidential re-election case

The electoral commission’s decision to appoint expensive foreign advocates has been widely criticised

Pressured Mutharika fires army chiefs

A statement from the presidency said popular army commander General Vincent Nundwe, alongside his deputy Clement Namangale, had been replaced

Irregularities: Members of
the Democratic Progressive Party celebrate the re-election of Peter Mutharika as president of Malawi in
May last year. The result was overturned by the Constitutional Court.
(Amos Gumulira/AFP)

Ignoring coronavirus fears, Malawi concentrates on its own political crisis

Politicians are paying more attention to the upcoming election than to Covid-19