Muli bwanji from BA! This is the Rorshok Malawi Update from the 30th of December twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Malawi.

People are mourning the death of five musicians who died in a car accident on Friday the 26th while traveling to Lilongwe in the Central Region.

The five were part of the band of musician Eli Njuchi, and were set to perform at Eli’s annual Hive Experience event set for Saturday the 27th. Unfortunately, their car crashed into another in Ntcheu in the Southern Region. Four members died on the scene, while another passed on while receiving treatment.

The news came as a shock, and many pitied Eli, who lost his entire band. The young star has since deactivated his social media accounts.

This year’s Christmas celebrations were dampened by a huge storm that caused heavy, non-stop rains in seven districts, including Blantyre and Machinga in the Southern Region.

The rains started on Christmas Day and lasted until Sunday the 28th. On Monday the 29th, the Department of Disaster Management Affairs told local media that a three-year-old died in the floods, and that over two thousand households had been displaced, while many more had lost their crops.

The Department is currently working with bodies like the Malawi Red Cross to assess the damage.

Unfortunately, some people had dry taps to deal with amidst the storm.

On Friday the 26th, the Blantyre Water Board released a statement apologizing to their customers because water stopped coming out shortly after the storm started. Their statement said the interruption in their water supply was due to an electricity blackout at one of their major stations.

As a result, many areas had no running water. They said they sent water bowsers to severely affected areas, but comments on their Facebook post showed that no one really knew where the bowsers went.

The water started running again a few hours after the rains calmed down.

The country is yet to have a breather because, on Monday the 29th, the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services forecasted another storm. They said an Intertropical Convergence Zone caused it, and that it would start on Monday, the 29th, and last up to Thursday, the 1st, affecting areas in the Northern Region, such as Mzuzu and Karonga. They said the storm would range from Categories 2, 6 and 10, depending on the area.

By Tuesday the 30th, local media started reporting on rain damage. For instance, they said that the M1 road got cut off in Kasungu District in the Central Region, making it impossible to travel from Lilongwe to the Northern Region. Fortunately, the Roads Authority fixed it after a few hours.

On a happier note… Some families grew on Christmas Day as they had their little bundles of joy. Statistics from the Ministry of Health say that over 1,700 babies were born on Christmas Day. This is higher than the 1,400 Christmas births in twenty twenty-four and twenty twenty-three.

While commenting on the stats, the Malawi Health Equity Network urged the Ministry of Health to determine the ages of the women who gave birth, saying it points to the country’s average fertility rate. The Network was concerned that the Christmas births might be a picture of Malawi’s daily birth rates, and that the country may not have enough resources if people do not start implementing family planning methods.

The National Statistics Office conducted a survey to assess how people feel about Malawi’s justice and accountability, and the results show that many people believe there is a huge gap in how the Rule of Law is applied.

The study said that only 10% believe that government officials respect the law, while nearly 40% disagree. Several feel that powerful people are not held accountable the way ordinary citizens are.

Political analyst George Chaima said the study revealed that laws are not applied equally because government officials do not face consequences for their crimes.

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In trending news, local media revealed that the Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation mismanaged 132 tonnes of maize flour at two of its warehouses, causing it to rot while many Malawians struggled with hunger. The Corporation eventually sold the flour to its staff at low prices, although it had worms and mould in it.

On Monday the 29th, some insiders told local media that authorities at the Corporation tried to cover up their mess by calling the cheaply-priced maize flour a staff privilege, instead of admitting they had made a negligent mistake.

The news angered people, since the country is undergoing food insecurity and has sent out numerous calls for aid.

This comes as the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development announced an outbreak of a disease that can worsen Malawi’s hunger crisis.

According to a statement released on Monday the 29th, Downy Mildew Disease affects various crops, including maize, which is Malawi’s staple crop. They said it has hit seven districts, but is prevalent in Blantyre and Machinga, although it could spread to other areas.

The Ministry has since advised farmers to inform government offices if they see any symptoms of the disease, such as stunted growth of maize seedlings, leaves that are narrower than usual, and a white mould-like growth on the bottom part of the leaves.

They also urged farmers to uproot and bury infected plants.

National Identity cards that have expired can still be used for official identification and transaction purposes.

In twenty twenty-three, the Ministry of Homeland Security allowed people to use expired national IDs because the National Registration Bureau couldn’t print and distribute them fast enough. The Ministry said the IDs would become invalid in January twenty twenty-six, and gave people until then to renew their cards.

However, on Thursday, the 25th, the Bureau released a statement saying that the government had announced that people could still use expired national IDs until January twenty twenty-seven, allowing them more time to renew, print, and distribute over two million ID cards.

In previous episodes, we mentioned that the government would remove school fees for secondary schools in January twenty twenty-six, and boarding fees in April next year. They said this would help make education more accessible to people.

Now, the government and some public and grant-supported schools are changing their tune. On Saturday the 27th, the Association of Christian Educators in Malawi told local news that parents and guardians will still have to pay boarding fees, unless their child already receives bursaries or similar support from the government.

At least the government did not do a complete switch-up, since they already removed school and exam fees as promised, and said students won’t have to pay anything come January twenty twenty-six.

Shifting gears, thousands of Malawians went to work in South African mines between the sixties and eighties after the Malawian and South African governments signed a labor export deal.

Now, forty-six thousand ex-miners want the Malawian government to force South Africa to compensate them for the funds that they lost when the labor deal was stopped abruptly, leaving them without their salaries. Local news said the South African government was meant to send the salaries to the ex-miners through the Reserve Bank of Malawi, but never did.

Unfortunately, the High Court threw out the ex-miners' case, saying it had passed the legal deadline for filing. However, the ex-miners are not giving up; they will appeal to the Supreme Court.

For our final update… If your mobile airtime seems to disappear from your phone without good reason, then you may be a victim of the Wangiri scam designed to drain your airtime.

According to a local news article, fraudsters leave missed calls or make very short calls to a victim’s phone, often from an unfamiliar or international number, and at odd hours. Once the victim calls back, their call connects to a number that charges painfully high fees for calls, making the victim’s airtime finish quickly.

It is unclear how the fraudsters benefit from this scam, but the article emphasized how it can affect the victim’s livelihood by making them unable to connect with their loved ones or run their affairs.

To avoid the scam, do not call the unknown numbers back.

You can check out the full article with the link in the show notes.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Before we head out, we just want to wish you an awesome 2026! Thanks so much for listening, sharing the show, and being part of the Rorshok community.

Pitani bwino!