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Chilobwe murders
The Chilobwe murders were a series of murders, numbering at least thirty killings, which took place over several months starting in November 1968 in the suburbs of Blantyre, particularly in Chilobwe. A number of rumours grew up around these murders, and many blamed them on the South African Government which, according to various popular accounts, wanted repayment of loans it had given to the Malawi Government, either in human blood or by the enslavement of Malawians to work in South Africa. These rumours were politically damaging to the government of Hastings Banda, which cultivated friendly relations with South Africa’s white minority government, and he treated the murders as a serious issue requiring urgent resolution. The murders were never fully solved. Several men were arrested in connection with the murders in 1969, but acquitted for lack of evidence. This caused popular outrage at the criminal justice system which, at that time, was still based on English law and practice. In 1970 another man, Walla Kawisa, made several confessions admitting to some of the murders. He was condemned to death and probably executed in May 1972. It is unlikely that the murders were the work of a single individual, and various theories have been proposed, some linking them to opposition to Banda. Banda himself blamed the murders on ex-ministers involved in the Cabinet Crisis of 1964, and removed Gomile Kumtumanji, a Member of Parliament cabinet minister for the Southern Region from office and had him tried for treason, allegedly for complicity in them.〔O J M Kalinga, (2012). Historical Dictionary of Malawi, pp. 91-2.〕
==The Murders==
Between September 1968 and March 1970, a large number of brutal murders occurred at night and in the victims' own homes in the suburbs of Malawi's largest city, Blantyre. At least 31 murders were said to have been committed by the same person or group, and they are collectively known as the Chilobwe murders. The murders were often accompanied by mutilation of the victims' bodies, and these mutilations were said to be suggestive of a belief in witchcraft or magic by whoever carried out the killings. Although these murders were particularly identified with the suburb of Chilobwe, they also took place in other areas. Many of the victims were poor and lived in housing with badly fitting doors and windows or unreliable locks, which offered little resistance to forced entry. The Government’s failure to make any arrests caused panic and led to criticism of the police and government. One persistent rumour was that the Government was itself responsible for the murders, and had drained the victims' blood to send to South Africa.〔P Brietzke, (1974). The Chilobwe Murders Trial, pp. 361-2.〕
In 1969, five people were arrested and charged with one of the Chilobwe murders in the Nakulenga case (named after the lead defendant). The accused were said to have entered a house, killed a man and a woman and left another man seriously injured. At first, the injured man told the police that he could not identify the attackers, but eleven days later he claimed that he was now able to identify some of them. At the close of the prosecution in the High Court, the defence argued that there was no case to answer. Justice Bolt, the trial judge, observed that these inconsistent statements affected the main witness’s credibility, and that other witnesses had also given inconsistent evidence. One of the charges against the defendants was dismissed because, although there was some evidence, it was clearly unreliable. The President made a statement saying that, if the judge had any conscience, he should resign.〔P Brietzke, (1974). The Chilobwe Murders Trial, p. 362.〕〔M H Hara, (2007). The Independence of Prosecuting Authorities: The Malawi Experience, p. 14. www.publiclaw.uct.ac.za/Hara_IndependenceOfProsecutingAuthority.doc〕 There were no further proceedings on the other charges, but the defendants remained in detention, because Banda said that lack of evidence was not proof of innocence.〔R Carver, (1990). Where Silence Rules: The Suppression of Dissent in Malawi, p. 33.〕
Parliamentary reaction was hostile, and several speakers, including ministers, openly suggested that European judges and the European-style legal system had allowed clearly guilty defendants to escape the punishment they deserved. One speaker suggested that expatriate judges were particularly unfitted to deal with cases involving witchcraft, which this case involved. It was also suggested that African custom and tradition did not require such conclusive evidence of guilt as systems based on English law did, as they did not involve such English law principles as the Presumption of innocence, the establishment of guilt beyond reasonable doubt and sufficient corroborating evidence. This criticism and the consequent resignation of Justice Bolt, the formation of Traditional Courts, where lawyers were generally prevented from appearing and the abolition of the right of appeal to the High Court led to the resignation of the other four High Court judges, all English, on the basis that justice was not adequately safeguarded under the new arrangements.〔P Brietzke, (1974). The Chilobwe Murders Trial, pp. 362-3.〕
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