43 years ago, Malawi Congress Party murdered four senior cabinet ministers .
The 17 May, 2026 marked the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Cabinet ministers Dick Matenje, Aaron Gadama, Twaibu Sangala, and MP Davis Chiwanga by the brutal MCP regime in 1983.
The MCP regime of Kamuzu Banda claimed they died in a car crash while fleeing to Mozambique.
However, a later Commission of Inquiry proved state operatives bludgeoned them to death in Mwanza’s Thambani Forest.
Banda later publicly warned: “Aliyense owukira ine adzawona zomwe anawona Gadama.”
In 1994, under President Bakili Muluzi, Kamuzu Banda, Tamanda Kadzamira, John Tembo, and officer Macdonald Kulemba faced murder charges.
They were acquitted on a technicality, as the evidence was ruled inadmissible hearsay because the masterminds who gave the orders had already died.
Former President Muluzi frequently cited the case to remind Malawians of the regime’s brutality, famously stating that a court acquittal does not erase the guilt of murder (“Waphabe, basi”).
May the souls of Matenje, Gadama, Sangala, and Chiwanga rest in eternal peace.
Left to right: Dick Matenje, Aaron Gadama, Twaibu Sangala, and Davis Chiwanga
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