A Shocking Record of Inhumanity

DECENT people both inside and outside Malawi have been shocked by the deeds committed in that land against a defenseless minority.

The violence began on a small scale in mid-1972. It reached massive proportions in autumn. At that time a spirit of mob violence was whipped up following the annual convention of the Malawi Congress Party, the country’s sole political party. The convention closed with three strongly worded resolutions attacking Jehovah’s witnesses. From July onward members of the party’s militant Youth League and its Young Pioneers movement had taken the lead in victimizing Jehovah’s witnesses and they now waged a virtual war against them. They organized themselves into bands, ranging from a dozen or so on up to as many as a hundred. They then went from village to village, armed with sticks, knobkerries, pangas and axes, searching out and attacking Jehovah’s witnesses and their properties.

As columnist Guy Wright of the San Francisco Examiner (October 17, 1972) observed, it was “a very one-sided war, pitting force against faith.” Yet faith actually proved the stronger, as Witness after Witness demonstrated that his or her faith could not be broken by brutality.

Here are but a few of the hundreds of eyewitness reports of the atrocities that took place:

● Typical of what went on in the villages is this report by David Banda of Kaluzi Village, Lilongwe: “It was on the 23rd of September that Mr. Gideon Banda, a minister of parliament, came to address a public meeting. I could hear most of what was said through loudspeakers as my house was just a few yards from the meeting place. Mr. Banda started off by relating to the meeting what was discussed at the party’s annual meeting. Then he went on to discuss the question of Jehovah’s witnesses. I heard him tell the meeting that the annual convention had resolved to deal with Jehovah’s witnesses ruthlessly because of their refusal to buy party cards.

“In the evening of September 25, Brother Swila came to tell me that he had seen groups of youths coming together. We immediately alerted the brothers, but before we could do anything the youths started their attacks, breaking window panels and doors of our houses and then beating up the brothers. We were all scattered so that we did not know what actually had happened to each one of us and it was getting quite dark. I went into hiding myself and then early in the morning I went to the police to report the matter. Instead of listening to my complaint, the police turned me away. While still at the police station I saw groups of brothers and sisters from other congregations coming to report similar incidents. The police told them to go back to their respective villages.”

However, the Witnesses refused to return without protection, going instead to the marketplace. David Banda relates what happened there:

“When the youths heard that the Witnesses had gone to the marketplace they went there and started beating up the brothers and sisters with sticks and fists and kicking them all over. The police did nothing to stop the attacks. Then violence filled the whole town of Lilongwe. However, the brothers managed to escape until finally we fled to Zambia.”

● Evans Noah of Mwalumo Village relates: “On September 18, 1972, I went to visit one of the brothers. We saw a car approaching and I recognized the driver as Mr. Gamphani, a member of the Malawi parliament. There were two young men with him. It seemed he was looking for me because as soon as they approached I heard one say, ‘Here he is.’ The car stopped and I was ordered by Mr. Gamphani to jump in. Then he drove to the police station. After asking me why I did not possess a political card, he had the police lock me up in detention and they kept me there for seven days. I was given neither food nor water during all those seven days.

“When the police saw I was getting physically weak they began mocking me by asking me to turn grass into food. Finally, when they saw that all their efforts to get me to buy a political card were fruitless, they released me, ordering me to find my own means for getting home. Despite the fact that I was weak due to not having food, I walked a distance of twenty-two miles and arrived home safely.”

Yet, not long thereafter Evans Noah and ten other Witnesses were forced to flee their village and leave Malawi.

● In the area of Blantyre, Malawi’s major city, Richadi Nyasulu, Greyson Kapininga and others of Jehovah’s witnesses were taken to the headquarters of the Southern Region of the Malawi Congress Party (M.C.P.). They were asked why they had not bought political membership cards. Upon replying that they were completely nonpolitical because of their Bible beliefs, the Witnesses were turned over to some sixteen Young Pioneers and members of the Youth League. These took turns beating each Witness. When they still refused to buy political cards, the youths rubbed a mixture of salt and hot red pepper into their eyes. Some were beaten on their back and buttocks with a plank of wood with nails in it. When any showed signs of pain, their attackers beat harder, saying: “Let your God come and save you.” In addition, they broke a bottle and used the broken edge to ‘shave’ some Witness men. On September 22 Jasteni Mukhuna of the Blantyre area was beaten till his arm was broken.

● At Cape Maclear, at the southern end of Lake Malawi, Witness Zelphat Mbaiko was covered with bundles of grass tied around him. Petrol was poured on the grass and set afire. He died as a result of the burns.

None Spared

The savagery of the attackers was such that no Witness was spared because of age or sex. Not all escaped from Lilongwe, as for example, one Witness woman, Mrs. Magola. Being pregnant and heavy with child, she could not run fast. Members of the M.C.P. caught her and battered her to death by the marketplace in the sight of many townspeople, not one coming to her aid. When a police officer was asked why he did not intervene, his reply was that ‘the power of the police had been taken away.’

● In the Ntonda area, south of Blantyre, Smith Bvalani, his elderly mother and others of Jehovah’s witnesses, both men and women, were beaten by members of the Youth League until they lay unconscious on the ground. One of the Youth League members, searching their pockets, found money on one Witness. He then used the money to buy political cards for each of them, writing their names on the cards and throwing these on the ground near the unconscious Witnesses. The Youth League now said that the Witnesses had given in and compromised their faith. When Smith Bvalani’s mother regained consciousness and saw the card she told them that she would not accept it even if it meant her death. They then beat her into unconsciousness again.

● Seventy-three-year-old Israel Phiri of Khwele Village, Mchinji, relates: “During the month of July 1972 we heard a rumor that the Malawi Congress Party was planning to launch a card-checking campaign throughout the country. Realizing that this would mean trouble for Jehovah’s witnesses, we decided to leave the village and go into hiding in the bush. We were thirty Witnesses all together. We stayed two months in the bush. However, suddenly, on October 5, we found ourselves surrounded by a large group of youths. They were all strange faces to me.

“As I tried to walk away, some of them got hold of me and began beating me with sticks and kicking me all over my body. It was impossible for me to see what was happening to the other brothers. Finally they left me lying unconscious on the ground. After regaining consciousness I tried to look for the other brothers but did not find them. I decided to leave Malawi for Zambia. Despite the fact that my whole body was swollen and my eyes were full of blood, with Jehovah’s help I managed to walk many miles to get to Thamanda hospital in Zambia.”

● Southeast of Blantyre, at Kavunje Village, all the Witnesses, men and women, were badly beaten and forced to walk naked on the road. One of their children died from the beating given him. In the northern region of Malawi, at Nkhotakota, a Witness woman, pregnant, was stripped of her clothing and badly beaten. The local leader of the M.C.P. told small children to kick her in the stomach, his purpose being to try to cause a miscarriage.

Sickening Sex Attacks

Sexual attacks on women of Jehovah’s witnesses were too numerous as well as too repugnant to set out here in full. Typical were these:

● Seventeen-year-old Rahabu Noah of Mtontho Village, Kasungu, relates: “On September 26, 1972, we received word that the youths were going from village to village attacking Jehovah’s witnesses physically and destroying their houses and property. The brothers suggested that we should go and hide ourselves in the bush and then at night take flight to Zambia. We were five sisters and three brothers. We left the village all right but, as we were going in a small path, we met a group of about twenty. They began asking for cards. None of us could produce one and so they started beating us with sticks and hitting us with fists. Next they stripped all of us naked and then continued to beat us. A group of about ten youths pushed me aside and carried me away from the others. While some were holding my hands and legs the others were raping me. I saw eight of them taking turns in raping me one after another. There was no one with a familiar face in their group. After beating us up savagely they left us. Later on I learned that the other four sisters in our group were also raped.”

● Funasi Kachipandi of Nyankhu Village, Lilongwe, gives her experience: “On October 1, 1972, after hearing reports of attacks on Jehovah’s witnesses, I decided to run away and cross over to Zambia. I left immediately along with my nineteen-year-old daughter, Dailes Kachipandi. However, it didn’t take long before we were captured by a group of unknown youths. They demanded party cards, which we could not produce. They turned us back and took us to their office near Chileka market. In my presence five youths took turns in raping my daughter. Then one of them grabbed me and pushed me to the ground. I tried to plead with him not to try and rape me as I was in my ninth month of pregnancy and I was so weak, but he could not show any human kindness. He raped me, doing so in the presence of my daughter. Then they left us. I reported these matters to the police. They took statements but did nothing. The following morning I gave birth to a child and then left the same day for Zambia, resting from time to time until we reached Zambia.”

In many other cases the names of the attackers were known to the victims. Some held official positions in the Malawi Congress Party.

● At Kamphinga Village, Matilina Chitsulo of Gwizi Village was raped by party branch chairman Kachigongo. At Mkombe Village, on October 2, 1972, Velenika Hositeni was kept in a room of the office of the M.C.P. for an entire night by the local party chairman and the party secretary, and both raped her. Seven men raped another Witness named Nezelia at the same office. Upon escaping to Zambia both women were hospitalized at Misale due to the physical abuse they had undergone.

We repeat: These incidents are not the exception. They are but a few of the hundreds of cases on file.

Yet there was another feature to the countrywide attack made on the Witnesses, one that made it of even more serious consequence than the persecution they had suffered beginning back in 1967.