Kasasile families vow to stay put until Malawi army pays for wrecked homes

Displaced villagers in Nkhata-Bay say they are ready to move to Maji Estate, but not before government compensates them for the homes and property the army destroyed in 2024.

The displaced residents of Kasasile, under Traditional Authority M’bwana in Nkhata-Bay, are angry about government’s plan to move them to Mzimba West.

The relocation was due to start in late October, and the villagers say they were given little reason to trust it.

The row goes back to December 2024, when the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) went into homes in Kasasile, destroyed houses and property, beat residents and forced them off land they had lived on for generations.

The army’s claim to the area dates from the Viphya Firing Range, which local leaders say was allotted to MDF in 1968.

They insist the land south of the Lukanga River was never part of that deal and remains customary land under gazetted chiefs. Some families also say sacred burial sites dating back to the 1930s lie on it.

Traditional Authority M’bwana and his village headmen say that in 1968 the army and local leaders agreed that the boundary was the Fulumita/Lukanga stream, and that MDF and farmers lived side by side until 2018.

That year, the army planted beacons in Kasasile, claiming it was retracing boundaries based on a 1963 colonial map.

Court win, no cash

In April 2025, a Mzuzu magistrate acquitted two accused villagers, ruling they had been legally allocated the land by their traditional leaders.

The court also ordered MDF to return or pay for the goods and property it had destroyed or seized. Villagers say they are still waiting.

A government promise

On September 30, 2026, Second Vice President Enock Chihana visited Kasasile with ministers and district commissioners to announce the relocation. Government said the 400 households would receive 600 hectares at Maji Estate in TA Mpherembe, Mzimba, or about 1.5 hectares each.

Promised work included plot demarcation, shelters, roads, a clinic, a primary school, grid electricity and boreholes. Relocation was to run from October 26 to 30.

A visit to Maji Estate on October 23 found a settled farming community, with permanent and temporary houses and curing barns, and fields already cleared for the 2026/27 season.

“We will not leave until we are paid”

Lucky Botha, chairperson of the displaced residents and Group Village Head Chikakamadoda, said the families were willing to move but would not leave Kasasile until compensation was paid.

He said the Maji Estate land was much smaller than what they had farmed in Kasasile, that it was already occupied by established families, and that there were no schools, hospitals, boreholes or roads.

“We are ready to relocate anywhere the government would see it fit, but if government is really determined to take us to Maji Estate, we pray that it clears all possible impediments before the relocation date,” he said.

The residents have written to Chihana, copying Lands Minister Chimwemwe Chipungu, to set out their grievances.