Lhomwe Paramount Chief Ngolongoliwa dies

There is dark crowd at Ntunda Wosema Headquarters in Thyolo as onr of the prominent chiefs in the country,  Paramount Chief Ngolongoliwa fhas died after a long illness.

Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development spokesperson Muhlabase Mughogho said Ngolongoliwa died in Blantyre at Mwaiwathu private hospital where he was receiving treatment.

Mulhako wa Alhomwe chief executive officer Muchanakhwaye Mpuluka said the death  of Ngolongoliwa has brought sadness to all the Lhomwes.

The elevation of Ngolongoliwa to Paramount Chief in 2017  transformed the Lhomwe belt.

Ngolongoliwa took over from the late Paramount Chief Mkhumba of Phalombe who died in July 2014 aged 82 after a long illness.

Mkhumba became Senior Chief in 2001 and was elevated to Paramount chief in 2008.

Born as Mweene Laelo Juma, Ngongoliwa joined the royal succession tree as village head in the early 1980s.

The Ngolongoliwa clan came from Mangulu Hill in Mozambique in 1874. Its royal throne was created by Mgunda Ngolongoliwa, a hunter known for his muzzle loader, who migrated and started a village on the confluence of Nansongole and Nansonyo rivers in T/A Chimaliro’s area in Thyolo.

Born to Juma Kosta and Margret Chikoswe on February 6 1950, the Lhomwe Paramount Chief  is one of the two surviving children from a family of 14.

He married  Verediana Yerenimo in 1991 and fathered five sons and a daughter.