Wandale convicted, To report to ICC

Self-styled People’s Land Organisation (PLO) leader Vincent Wandale has been convicted on three counts of conspiracy to commit a misdemeanour, unauthorised use of land and criminal trespass.

Blantyre senior resident magistrate Thokozani Soko has since set November 8 for sentencing Wandale who was arrested on September 3 in Lilongwe in connection with an incident on September 1 at Conforzi Tea Estate in Thyolo where hundreds of locals invaded the estate and started sharing land for permanent settlement and cultivation. They claimed the land belonged to their forefathers.

However, speaking to journalists outside the court, Wandale said he will appeal and take the case further to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He said: “This issue will not end here, we will be making an appeal. I maintain my stand that we are a sovereign State and have freehold of all land belonging to United States of Thyolo and Mulanje.

“I do not care whether the court recognises it or not. We will also be taking this issue to International Criminal Court.”

Through his grouping, Wandale argues that estate owners in Thyolo and Mulanje deprived the locals of farm land. The group advocates for distribution of idle estate land in the two districts and claims Thyolo and Mulanje are a sovereign state.

Reacting to the judgement, Mulanje South member of Parliament (MP) Bon Kalindo (Democratic Progressive Party-DPP), who is also leader and founder of  Citizens for the Protection of Mulanje (CPM) described the verdict as sad.

He said: “To me, it is really a very sad development considering that Wandale is fighting for a noble cause. But since the issue is still in court let me comment much after the sentencing.”

However, Senior Chief Ngolongoliwa of Thyolo hailed the judgement and said it will deter others from taking the law into their own hands.

Said the chief: “Wandale is a nobody. He is not even from any chieftaincy blood line. I wonder where he got the power to mobilise people to start sharing other people’s land among themselves. I am very happy with the judgement as it will promote adherence to the rule of law.”

On the other hand, Wandale’s co-accused Tendai Nsikita has been acquitted of the same charges after the court found that he had no intention to benefit from the act at Conforzi Estate, but was sent there by his organisation.

In her judgement, Soko said she convicted Wandale on all three counts   after finding that he aided, abetted and encouraged people to encroach Conforzi Tea Estate as shown in the official notice presented in court regarding the planned encroachment which the people ‘mistakenly’ believe belonged to their forefathers.

She said Wandale failed to justify his bona fide ownership of the said land which could have seen its passing from one generation to another. She added that it was impossible for the people to be negotiating the said land as if they owned the same.

Soko also said the fact that other accused persons pleaded guilty to the charges meant that the land belonged to Conforzi. She said Wandale also failed to follow proper channels to resolve land issues in the district.

Through Southern Region Police Headquarters prosecutor David Mtete, the State has since pleaded for a stiffer sentence, “particularly an immediate custodial sentence, even though he is a first offender, taking into consideration that it was an organised crime and that the conduct of the accused could have lead to the encroachment of all tea estates in the district thereby affecting the economy of the country”.

Mtete said Wandale also wasted the court’s time and resources in the case by pleading not guilty.

But making his submissions, defence lawyer Michael Goba Chipeta asked the court to give Wandale a suspended sentence considering the context of the case.

He said his client has been trying to solve a huge land problem in Thyolo which government itself is failing to.

Earlier this year, Wandale and Kalindo, through their organisations had an audience with President Peter Mutharika at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre following their demands for land to be distributed to landless Malawians in the two districts. n