Dick Matenje (died 1983) was a former Malawian politician and cabinet minister. [1] He was the secretary-general of the Malawi Congress Party. He was one of the 'Mwanza Four' who mysteriously died during the Kamuzu Banda regime.
Dick Matenje (died 1983) was a former Malawian politician and cabinet minister. [1] He was the secretary-general of the Malawi Congress Party. He was one of the 'Mwanza Four' who mysteriously died during the Kamuzu Banda regime.
Matenje was Minister of Finance from 1972 to 1978. He mysteriously died on 18 May 1983, along with ministers Twaibu Sangala, Aaron Gadama and Member of Parliament David Chiwanga. [2] The four were collectively known as the 'Mwanza Four'. They were known to be critical of aspects of the totalitarian rule of Kamuzu Banda. They died mysteriously in 1983. Their death was ruled as a traffic accident by the Kamuzu Banda regime, although independent investigations indicate that this may have not the case. [3] [4]
Kamuzu Banda, John Tembo, MacDonald Kalemba, Augustino Leston Likaomba , Mcwilliam Lunguzi and Cecilia Kadzamira, were arrested for and charged with the murder of the four in 1995, ten years after their death. They were acquitted due to lack of evidence. [5]
He is the father of Ambassador Steve Matenje.
Politics of Malawi takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Malawi is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. There is a cabinet of Malawi that is appointed by the President of Malawi. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Hastings Kamuzu Banda was the prime minister and later president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994.
John Zenus Ungapake Tembo is a Malawian politician who served for years as President of the Malawi Congress Party (MCP). Tembo comes from the Dedza District in central Malawi, and he is a teacher by profession. Beginning in the 1960s he was an important politician in Malawi, and he was a key figure in the regime of Hastings Banda (1964–1994). He has been variously described as "physically slight, ascetic, fastidious" and "cunning". He was replaced as President of the MCP in August 2013.
Yatuta Chisiza was a Malawi minister of home affairs who led a brief guerrilla incursion into the country in October 1967. He is considered one of the most important figures in pre and post colonial politics in Malawi.
Louis Joseph Chimango was a long-time cabinet minister in Late Hastings Kamuzu Banda's cabinet from 1978 to 1994. He had trained as a lawyer and later on as a barrister from Grays Inn in London. He later taught at the law school at Chancellor College in Zomba, a constituent of the University of Malawi, from 1970, before being nominated for politics in 1978. He left the law school when he was the dean of the Faculty of Law. During Late Kamuzu Banda's time he held a number of cabinet portfolios including those of Minister of Finance, Health, Local Government, and Education, among others. After Late Kamuzu's defeat in the 1993 referendum he maintained his seat in Parliament and was later elected Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi from June 2005-June 2009. A member of the Malawi Congress Party, he represented the Lilongwe Mpenu Nkhoma constituency, a seat which he lost during the 1999 Late Bingu wa Mutharika's regime. He was also a member of the Pan-African Parliament.
The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university established in 1965 and until 4 May 2021, when the university underwent a delinking, was composed of four constituent colleges located in Zomba, Blantyre, and Lilongwe. Of the four colleges, the largest is Chancellor College in Zomba. It is part of the Malawian government educational system. The last Vice-Chancellor was Professor John Kalenga Saka. UNIMA celebrated its golden jubilee from the 24 to the 26 September 2015.
Chakufwa Chihana was a Malawian human rights activist, pro-democracy advocate, trade unionist and later, politician. He held the post of Second Vice President in Malawi, under President Bakili Muluzi. He is often called the 'father of Malawian democracy'. He served as leader of Malawi's first underground political movement, which urged President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who had ruled for three decades, to call for a referendum on political pluralism. He was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 1992.
Malawian-South African relations refers to the bilateral relationship between Malawi and South Africa. South Africa's first formal relationship with an independent African country was established with Malawi, beginning in 1967.
Orton Chirwa was a lawyer and political leader in colonial Nyasaland and after independence became Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General. After a dispute with Malawi's autocratic President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, he and his wife Vera were exiled. After being kidnapped abroad they were tried in Malawi on charges of treason and sentenced to death. Amnesty International named the couple prisoners of conscience. After spending nearly eleven years on death row in Malawi, Orton Chirwa died in prison on 20 October 1992.
The Malawi Young Pioneers (MYP) were the paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress Party. Their Commander-in-Chief was President Hastings Kamuzu Banda. They originally were supposed to function as a national youth service program with a development agenda. However over time, they strayed away from this agenda and became an intricate network of espionage and terror. The Young Pioneers were a major instrument for the operationalisation of Dr Banda's one-party totalitarian dictatorship and domestic terrorism. Pioneers bore arms, conducted espionage and intelligence operations, and were Banda's most trusted bodyguards around Hastings Kamuzu Banda. Both the Malawi Army and Police resented the Pioneers for usurping their roles as security agents.
Ken Diston Lipenga is a Malawian politician, journalist, and writer. He was the Member of Parliament for Phalombe East from 1997 to 2014. He has served in various ministerial positions.
Aleke Kadonaphani Banda was a Malawian politician who served as a Member of Parliament, as Minister of Finance, and as Minister of Agriculture in Malawi. He was also co-founder of 'the Nation Publications Limited'. Banda's life in politics (1953–2008) was devoted intensely to his country as it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964, as it established the political and economic structures of an independent state under Hastings Kamuzu Banda and as it created the framework of a multiparty democracy under Bakili Muluzi. Banda died from leukemia on 9 April 2010.
Sam Mpasu was a Malawian politician, author, and former diplomat. He served as Minister of Commerce, Secretary General of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1999, and speaker of the Malawi National Assembly.
The Malawian Defence Force is the state military organisation responsible for defending Malawi. It originated from elements of the British King's African Rifles, colonial units formed before independence in 1964.
Focus Martin Gwede was head of the special branch of the Malawi Police Force. He was from Ntcheu Malawi. He was one of the most feared policemen during the Kamuzu Banda era. With Gwede as the head of Special Branch and Albert Muwalo as a Minister of State they made the most feared duo in Malawi.
Twaibumohamedi John Twaibu Sangala was a Malawian cabinet Minister and one of the Mwanza four. He was from Dedza district Traditional Authority Tambala. The function was organised by the then ruling party UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT (UDF) under the leadership of Bakili Muluzi, the first democratically elected president in Malawi He was the Minister of Health for Malawi. He died in a mysterious death on 18th May 1983 together with two other cabinet ministers Aaron Gadama and Dick Matenje– and Member of Parliament David Chiwanga. Their deaths were ruled as a 'traffic accident' by the Kamuzu Banda regime.
Aaron Eliot Gadama was a former Malawian cabinet Minister and one of the 'Mwanza Four'. He was born in Kasungu District and is thought to be a relative of President Kamuzu Banda.
David Chiwanga was a Malawian Member of Parliament who was one of the Mwanza Four. He was the MP for the Chikwawa District and was thought to be a secret critic of President Kamuzu Banda. He disappeared on 18 th May 1983 together with three cabinet ministers: Dick Matenje, Aaron Gadama, and Twaibu Sangala. Their deaths were ruled accidental by Kamuzu Banda. In 1995, seven people, including Kamuzu Banda, were brought to trial over the deaths but were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Krishna Savjani OBE SC is a prominent Malawi lawyer. He is the founder of Savjani and Company, Malawi’s leading law firm according to Chambers and Partners. He is also Senior Consul, an appointment made by the President of Malawi. Senior Counsel is the equivalent of Queen's Counsel in England. He is the British Honorary Consul since 1998, the first person to be appointed so in Malawi. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2003.
Maximiano Mcwilliam Lunguzi was an Inspector General of Police in Malawi. He was removed from his post by President Bakili Muluzi and reassigned as a diplomat without an explanation in a move that was challenged by the court and ruled unconstitutional. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder together with John Tembo, Cecilia Kadzamira but was acquitted.
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