Mutharika, media pay tribute to Chitsulo

President Peter Mutharika yesterday joined the media fraternity in the country in paying tribute to Nation Publications Limited (NPL) managing editor Edward Chitsulo who died in the early hours of yesterday after a short illness.

Chitsulo, one of the most refined and accomplished journalists and media trainer, died at Blantyre Adventist Hospital at the age of 56.

When news of his demise broke out, tributes poured in from all walks of life.

In a statement made available to The Nation, Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nankhumwa said the President was deeply shocked with Chitsulo’s death, describing him as a patriot whose writings fought for democracy in Malawi.

Said Nankhumwa in the statement: “As a media trainer, he helped in the growth of the industry not only in Malawi but the entire region. As an editor, he helped in the development of Malawi by sensitising our people regarding their rights and responsibilities. He will be missed for his charm, his courage, his zeal, his skills and his willingness to share his ideas with all.”

Vice-President Saulos Chilima, speaking through his press officer Pilirani Phiri, said he was greatly shocked to learn about the death of Chitsulo, known for his impeccable English.

NPL deputy chief executive officer Alfred Ntonga, who worked with Chitsulo for more than a decade, described his colleague’s death as a heavy loss not only to the NPL family, but to journalism as a profession.

Ntonga said Chitsulo was not an ordinary journalist as he was also a media trainer who has shaped most media practitioners that have gone through the corridors of the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) and the Polytechnic, a constituent college of the University of Malawi (Unima).

Chitsulo was responsible for all operations in the editorial department of NPL and was popular because of his educative, informative and cutting weekend column Raw Stuff published in Weekend Nation, one of NPL products.

And in a statement signed by its chairperson Thom Khanje, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi Chapter said it was shocked with the death of the “inspirational and monumental” professional.

Reads the statement in part: “To most media practitioners, he was not only a senior and respectable colleague but also a mentor, trainer and father figure. [The late] Chitsulo will be remembered by journalists and Malawians in general as one of the champions of media freedom, freedom of expression and democracy as he led the media fraternity in its transformation to liberalisation between 1991 and 1994 as the country transitioned to multi-party system of government.”

Misa-Malawi also described Chitsulo as a journalist with “unwavering standards of professionalism” who was a furnace that shaped the media profession in the country.

“Malawi’s media has lost a pillar of strength, an icon of media freedom, a model of professional journalism, a fountain of wisdom and a caring senior colleague,” mourned Misa-Malawi.

With fellow journalist Grey Mang’anda, Chitsulo also established the GE Publications Limited which used to publish the defunct Michiru Sun newspaper in the early 1990s.

In an interview yesterday, Mang’anda and Levi Zeleza Manda, two of Chitsulo’s closest allies, said they were too devastated with the death of a colleague they shared a lot over the years.

Mourned Manda: “I am totally devastated. At the moment, I don’t think I have anything positive to comment.”

And through a journalists’ google group, Namisa Forum, several individual journalists also poured in their tributes to the journalist of international repute, many of whom are his products.

“Losing a respectable, professional media expert? A very good adviser you were. Very mature, composed and unmovable with political waves. This is sad,” mourned Eunice Chipangula, former Malawi Broadcasting Corporation deputy director general now deputy secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

Chitsulo also played a leading role in the establishment of other key media institutions such as the Journalists Association of Malawi (Jama) now Journalists Union of Malawi (Juma), the Malawi Institute of Journalism (MIJ) and the Media Council of Malawi (MCM).

A holder of bachelor of arts (credit) from the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College, post-graduate diploma in mass communication (India) and post-graduate diploma in practical journalism (Wales-United Kingdom), Chitsulo was born on April 16 1958 in Harare, Zimbabwe and hails from Ntepele Village (around Nguludi Turn-Off) in the area of Traditional Authority (T/A) Likoswe in Chiradzulu District where he will be buried tomorrow.

The late Chitsulo’s body will be taken from College of Medicine mortuary at 10am this morning to his house in Nyambadwe before a church service at St Columba CCAP Church at noon. Thereafter, the body will be taken to his home village. n