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Mail & Guardian
malawilatest news & developments

Billions promised, millions expected: Malawi's mining boom fiscal gap

As foreign companies advance projects worth tens of billions of dollars in critical minerals, Malawi's fiscal watchdog projects the government will collect roughly $19 million…

Judicial crisis: While the judiciary in Malawi contends that the country ranked third on the continent regarding public access to justice, the poor have expressed no such confidence.  Photo: Malawi Judiciary

Ranked third in Africa, yet justice fails many

Malawi ranks third in Africa for public confidence in its courts, according to the Afrobarometer Round 10 survey. However, this high trust masks a severe structural crisis where…

Xenophobia sparks humanitarian crisis: 8000 gather at Durban transit site

Over 8000 Malawian nationals have gathered at Durban's Sherwood Community Hall, seeking repatriation after a wave of xenophobia and violence in South Africa. The situation is…

First 1140 Malawians processed at Durban repatriation site found to be undocumented

The first 1140 Malawian nationals processed at a repatriation site in Durban were found to be in the country illegally, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Njabulo Nzuza said on Sunday,…

New research links rural solar adoption to mobile money use, while raising concerns about inequality

Solar powers Malawi’s mobile money boom but leaves the poorest behind

New research links rural solar adoption to mobile money use, while raising concerns about inequality

Heavy burden: Malawian President Peter Mutharika has assumed responsibility for a public finance system caught in a cycle of large fiscal deficits, rising interest payments and shrinking space for development spending. Photo: Supplied

Fiscal crisis tests Malawi’s reform agenda

The country’s debt-heavy budget leaves Peter Mutharika, beginning his second term after winning the September 2025 election, reliant on World Bank-backed reforms to restore…

Electrician Morithi Manasoe Working On Installing Solar Panels. Photo: Supplied

Malawi’s solar push bypasses its poorest

A peer-reviewed study finds wealth inequality is locking the poorest households out of solar electrification

The suspects boarding a police van. Photo: Macmillan Mhone

Malawi’s century-old witchcraft law leaves door open to mob killings

Seven deaths in southern Malawi expose legal gaps, weak prosecutions and a colonial law that authorities say is no longer fit to manage modern waves of panic-driven violence

Malawi’s parliament has opened a third formal investigation into the June 2024 military aircraft crash that killed former vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others. (Malawi24/Facebook)

Malawi plane crash probe targets aviation oversight

For the families of the nine victims who died on a remote hillside in northern Malawi, the question that first emerged after the crash remains unresolved. The country’s third…

A nationwide shutdown by traders in Malawi has exposed a dispute that goes far beyond a new tax technology.
(Malawi24/X)

Malawi trader shutdown exposes deeper tension over tax reform and economic crisis

Malawi’s rollout of a digital tax platform has triggered widespread business protests, with traders arguing that economic pressures and foreign exchange shortages were ignored…

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

Fresh inquiry into Malawi military plane crash to exhume Chilima and eight victims

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…

Gabriel Chembezi, the acting director-general of the ACB in Malawi. (Gabriel Chembezi/Facebook)

Malawi anti-corruption chief accused of using case files to pressure MPs

Malawi’s anti-corruption chief is accused of using confidential case files to pressure a parliamentary probe into a controversial pension fund deal.

Malawian Police have warned against “trial by public opinion” in the case.

Outcry after names removed from petition in Abdul Aziz Panjwani killing case

A public petition demanding arrests in the killing of Abdul Aziz Panjwani has been altered to remove the names of alleged suspects, raising concerns about transparency as…

Malawi’s questionable hotel deal lingers

During the same parliamentary hearings, the Reserve Bank of Malawi disclosed that investigators had traced 72.6 billion kwacha linked to financial flows associated with the…

According to data compiled by the Malawi Network of Older Persons Organisations (Manepo), 11 elderly people were killed over witchcraft accusations in the first four months of 2026 alone.

Malawi faces “ticking time bomb” as witchcraft killings and impunity rise

Rising witchcraft accusations in Malawi are fuelling deadly attacks on elderly people, exposing gaps in justice, social protection and governance

Malawi president Peter Mutharika

Malawi’s vice-president executive ‘reshuffle’ exposes governance risks

A government denial that vice-president Jane Ansah is being sidelined has highlighted a deeper issue: the consolidation of authority at the presidency during a period of climate…

Worker safety: Findings by the Karonga district commissioner reveal that drinking water at Kayelekera mine
does not meet acceptable standards. Photo: Supplied

Uranium mine audit flags toxic water and sanitation failures

Lotus Resources’ Kayelekera mine faces scrutiny after an audit revealed water safety and sanitation failures affecting workers

Fast moving: The Faizan Global Relief Foundation (FGRF) launched a food distribution campaign targeting
100 000 vulnerable households across Malawi in February. Photo: Radio Islam Malawi/Facebook

Malawi’s aid vacuum draws new actors

As Western donors pull back and food insecurity deepens in the landlocked south-eastern African nation, the rise of a UK-registered Islamic charity is exposing both the necessity…

A blistering courtroom critique of journalists reveals not just professional failings but the deeper economic and institutional fragility undermining democratic accountability in Malawi.

Malawi’s media ‘crisis’ is bigger than the newsroom

A blistering courtroom critique of journalists reveals not just professional failings but the deeper economic and institutional fragility undermining democratic accountability in…

Malawi president Peter Mutharika

Malawi’s new government drops corruption cases against senior officials

The move could undermine Lilongwe’s pursuit of a new programme with the International Monetary Fund