The Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has presented this petition today, on behalf of the forgotten landless people in Mulanje district.
Sylvester Namiwa reading the petition in Mulanje where the held peaceful demonstrations said all the idle land should be surrendered and made accessible to the rightful owners;
The petition calls for locals to form part of the shareholding of all the plantations namely; Tea, Macademia, Coffee and Tungsten;
The third demand in the petition is that the British government should publicly apologise to all Malawians, and should compensate the remnants, whose forefathers were assaulted, had their crops and graves vandalized, and suffered through the infamous forced labour known as the Thangata system;
CDEDI has also called for Estate owners should immediately stop using the police to unleash terror on innocent and unarmed people, including minors, women and the elderly. CDEDI is, therefore, reminding President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera, and his Inspector General of Police, that Malawi is not a police state;
Namiwa points out The District Commissioner for Mulanje should stop futile attempts to block a constitutional right for the people to hold peaceful demonstrations, as and whenever they wish to do so;
CDEDI has given the Malawi government ninety (90) days to address the above stated grievances.
“Failure to do so will be construed by the people of Mulanje as a signal for them to take over the idle land in question,” reads the petition.
