Supreme Court settles Mduwa chieftaincy wrangles

The Supreme Court of Appeal has finally settled a protracted wrangle that rocked the Mduwa chieftaincy of Mchinji for over 30 years.

The court sitting in Lilongwe determined that PatsonMagaleta, second appellant in the case, is the legitimate heir to the Mduwa throne effectively quashing an earlier ruling by the High Court which had given the chieftaincy to Isaac Lutere.

The court learnt that the chieftaincy of Mduwa had been in the Mitala family since 1945 when Richard Mitala, Magaleta’s uncle, who was Traditional Authority (T/A) was arrested and detained on an allegation that he killed a Mr Mbaluko from the Lutere family. While Mitala was in custody, Lutere took over the chieftaincy and became T/A Mduwa.

Mitala was later acquitted of the murder charge and upon his release, he tried to reclaim the throne by lodging a complaint with Mchinji district commissioner (DC) and the Ministry of Local Government, but was told to wait as there was no vacancy in the Mduwa chieftaincy until he died in 1983.

In 2008, Lutere also died and Magaleta was chosen and installed T/A Mduwa with the recognition of both the DC and the Ministry of Local Government.

But the Lutere family protested and took the matter to the High Court which on April 10 2012 ruled in their favour.

But the Mitala family appealed against the ruling and in her determination  Chief Justice Anastasia Msosa found that there was overwhelming evidence that the Mitala family was the correct heir to the Mduwa chieftaincy and that the judge erred in determining that the Mitala family held the chieftaincy in a caretaker capacity from 1943 to 1975.

“It is clear from the circumstances that Richard Mitala could have continued to be T/A Mduwa if he was not arrested and detained and there is no evidence that the Lutere family prior to 1975 [when Mitala was arrested] had challenged the chieftaincy of Mduwa,” she observed.