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The Rhodesia Herald (Incorporating The Evening Standard), 8 January 1970

THE Malawi axe killers who have claimed 23 victims in the Blantyre district in the past 13 months, struck again in the early hours of yesterday when nine people were attacked.

The victims, who were found in five houses in the Ndirande Suburb, about two miles from the city centre, were taken to hospital where five of them were reported to be still unconscious yesterday afternoon.

Police confirmed that axes had been used in the murder attempts. The injured, all Africans, were a married couple with two young children, another married couple and three single men.

In one house, police found a blood-stained, but unharmed child.

Later in the day, police used tear-gas to disperse an angry crowd of about 1 000 who gathered outside the Ndirande branch office of the Malawi Congress Party.

It is reported that they were demanding that a man detained by a party official be handed over to them.

Stones were thrown and a European photographer had his camera seized when he attempted to take pictures of a scuffle involving members of the Young Pioneers’ movement. Yesterday, police said all was quiet in Ndirande.

The axe murders created unrest in the course of last year, and gave rise to bizarre rumours, strenuously denied by the Government, that the victims had been killed for their blood to repay development loans from South Africa.

After the last murders early in November, police established special posts throughout the area around the slopes of Mount Soche.

But yesterday’s attacks were in a suburb on the other side of town.

President (Hastings Kamuzu) Banda has blamed the killings on sorcerers. He said the murders were not politically-motivated, but had been exploited by exiled rebels who had spread the rumours against his Government.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

• Malawi’s axe killers of 1970 are no different from the machete gangs terrorising communities in gold-rich mining towns like Kwekwe, Kadoma, Bindura, Chegutu and Penhalonga. In the process, they are tarnishing the country’s image.
• Law enforcement agents must always remember that “a stitch in time saves nine”. Claims and counter-claims about the machete gangs’ motives and whether they have backers continue to fly around. Slow response from the responsible authorities, following the first reports results in some of these unfounded claims, and meanwhile, lives of innocent citizens are damaged and the nation continues to be polarised.
• In this social media era, images that have either been photoshopped and/or copied from bizarre incidents that happened in other countries are now being shared, with impunity and some people gullibly believe that it is happening in Zimbabwe.
• The million-dollar question is: how did these gangs, comprising mostly young people grow to be such a national threat? What is the bigger picture in view of national and regional security?
• We commend the arrests made so far by the police and the Judiciary. The Chief Justice’s recent promise to end the menace is also quite reassuring: “May I assure the nation that the courts stand ready to decisively deal with those accused of these offences in accordance with the law.

“Special courts to specifically try the cases have been set up in all affected areas across the country. I call upon all stakeholders in the administration of justice to make concerted efforts to end this problem.”

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