Gonapamuhanya Festival Descends Into Chaos as Tear Gas Clouds Ceremony Before Second Vice President
What was meant to be a proud moment of cultural unity for the Tumbuka people degenerated into a shameful spectacle of violence, confusion and sheer disorder on Saturday—right in full view of Second Vice President Enock Chihana.
The Gonapamuhanya Festival, which had opened with promise on Friday, ended abruptly in chaos as long-simmering succession hostilities between the camps of Paramount Chief Chikulamayembe Joseph Bongololo Gondwe and Mtima Gondwe exploded into open confrontation.
By mid-morning, the air at Bolero’s Kadumulira Cultural Site was thick with tear gas. Police officers, overwhelmed and visibly shaken, fired canisters to disperse warring youth who turned a sacred cultural gathering into a battleground.
According to eyewitnesses, the spark came when Bongololo Gondwe’s youth supporters mocked Mtima Gondwe’s camp in provocative songs. The taunts were met by a hail of stones, sending families fleeing for safety. Within minutes, the grounds hosting dignitaries—among them the Second Vice President—were engulfed in fear and panic.
Group Village Head Mwendapadera recounted the terrifying moment when police fired tear gas deep into GVH Chilongozgi, affecting the house of the late Paramount Chief Chikulamayembe XII, Walter Gondwe, where elderly relatives—including Mtima’s mother—live.
“Tear gas was fired even at the house of the late chief where old, frail people who cannot run live,” he said. “Youth blocked the road after being insulted, and started pelting vehicles. But what wrong did the elderly do to deserve choking in their own homes?”
Elderly women were seen crying, children stumbled blindly through gas clouds, and tourists unfamiliar with Malawi’s political-chieftaincy tensions ran for cover. What was supposed to be a celebration of ancestry collapsed into a humiliating display of disunity.
Delivering his speech after order was tentatively restored, Second Vice President Chihana did not hide his disappointment. He blamed the violence on political manipulation of chieftaincy succession—a problem he said continues to tear communities apart.
“Chieftaincy is culture,” Chihana said sternly. “Government has no business choosing traditional leaders. Political interference creates divisions and kills development.”
His words were sharp, but the scenes that unfolded before him spoke louder: a fractured community unable to contain its bitterness even in the presence of the country’s second vice president.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Patricia Wiskes pleaded with chiefs to instill cultural values in young people, while Paramount Chief Chikulamayembe insisted that festivals like Gonapamuhanya are meant to promote unity—not deepen scars.
But on Saturday, unity evaporated.
Even as Jean Chilinda, head of the national organising committee, tried to emphasise the festival’s role in fostering peaceful coexistence, the bitter truth remained: the 2025 Gonapamuhanya Festival will be remembered not for its theme—Culture and integrity: the backbone of development—but for tear gas, insults, and stone-throwing witnessed at the very heart of Tumbuka cultural pride.
The wreath-laying at Mphande Hills earlier in the day was dignified and steeped in heritage. But by sunset, all that cultural reverence had been eclipsed by images of running battles, choking elders, and national embarrassment.
A festival meant to honour the first Tumbuka king, Gonapamuhanya, instead exposed a community divided, a chieftaincy unsettled, and a celebration shattered—right under the gaze of the country’s leadership.
The tears shed at this year’s Gonapamuhanya were not those of joy, but of frustration, fear and profound disappointment.
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