By Steven Nhlane
Mzuzu City has been burning these past four months. It has been the epicentre of demonstrations in the country. This year alone, there have been seven demonstrations in Mzuzu which is more than all protests held in Blantyre and Lilongwe during the same period combined. Blantyre and Lilongwe have had a total of six demonstrations, three in each city.
So why is Mzuzu leading on demonstrations? We answer this question later.
Mzuzu City is also leading in the number of demonstrations held on its soil from July 2020 to-date. During this period, the Northern Region city has seen 11 protests compared to nine and six for Lilongwe and Blantyre, respectively.
However, between 2020 and 2024, Lilongwe City took the lead with seven demonstrations followed by Mzuzu, four, and of the three biggest cities, Blantyre had the least: three. Zomba City has been the quietest metro having witnessed only two protests in the past five years鈥攐n December 21 2021 and on March 11, 2025. Both demonstrations were held to protest the rising cost of living, fuel and forex scarcity.
But of the three biggest cities in the country, why has Blantyre, the second biggest city, seen the least number of demonstrations? We also answer this question later.
There was a cocktail of reasons for the demonstrations. Led by activists Bon Kalindo and Sylvester Namiwa, majority of the protests from 2020 have been against the rising cost of living, scarcity of fuel and forex, to issues over business-related licences.
From last year, activists mostly led by Namiwa have also been pushing for the resignation of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) chairperson Justice Annabel Mtalimanja for being a daughter of a former Malawi Congress Party (MCP) leader, and her chief elections officer Andrew Mpesi for allegedly being an MCP operative.
Most recently, other demands have been against MEC鈥檚 use of Smartmatics Electoral Management System (EMS) in the September 16 General Election. The activists have also been demanding that the electoral body should allow the opposition parties to audit the EMS.
So why has Mzuzu been a fertile ground for demonstrations? Our starting point is the premise that every fight is an assertion for supremacy or to protect one鈥檚 interest. People fight to either wrest power or jurisdiction or defend it.
Thankfully, the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) has read the situation very well. PAC spokesperson Bishop Gilford Matonga says his organisation believes that the political violence in the country is perpetrated by MCP and DPP whose leaders are President Lazarus Chakwera and former president Peter Mutharika.
This week, the quasi-religious body announced plans to meet the leaders of the two big parties in the country, to implore them to rein their supporters and end the politically-connected violence in the country. PAC believes engaging the two leaders would be a step in the right direction to quell the violence. How true PAC can be!
So, in essence, by impressing on the two leaders to stop the violence, PAC will be telling Chakwera and Mutharika that their parties should stop sponsoring the demonstrations and the thugs which foil the protests.
PAC鈥檚 analysis of the political space and activities in the country is a tacit acknowledgement that MCP and DPP have now made Mzuzu鈥攖he current epicenter of protests鈥攖heir battleground.
Both political parties have their perceived strongholds. Central Region is for MCP and the South for the DPP. To a very large extent, DPP鈥檚 battle for votes in the South is already won. Same with MCP in the Central Region. But not so with the North which has no obvious or discernible political affiliation. And the parties know that they will win or lose the elections in the North.
The demonstrations in Mzuzu have two outcomes. One is that they have potential to create voter apathy in the city and the region as a whole. DPP would be happy with this knowing that MCP has been gaining ground in the North as evidenced by the fact that over the years, some DPP and independent MPs have switched allegiance to the governing party. MCP has also been grabbing some parliamentary and local government seats from its political opponents during by-elections in the region.
Secondly, demonstrations are rarely peaceful and therefore bad for business in Mzuzu, and anywhere they are held. The reason Blantyre has seen the least number of demonstrations is because DPP which perceives the city as part of its stronghold jealously guards it from such. Billy Mayaya learnt the hard way in 2019 when he led some protesters in the city.
Businesspersons in Mzuzu should protect their businesses. Make Mzuzu peaceful. They should pluck a leaf from their counterparts in Blantyre.