Murder suspect Chanthunya returns to Malawi on Thursday: Extradition from South Africa

Malawian businessman Misozi Chanthunya, who fled to South Africa after his girlfriend was found brutally murdered, returns home on Thursday to answer murder charges after agreeing to be extradited, Ministry of Justice spokesperson Pilirani Masanjala has confirmed.

“I can confirm that Mr Chanthunya arrives in the country on Thursday,” Majamanda said.

He will arrive through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in the capital city Lilongwe at 4:30 pm.

Chanthunya has been filling application after application to the South African courts aimed at blocking his extradition.

He had been basing his argument on the fact that while South Africa has abolished the death penalty, he potentially faces the noose if repatriated to face charges in Malawi.

Chanthunya withdrew all applications against the extradition process and wants to answer charges in Malawi.

At issue is the August 2010 murder of his pregnant girlfriend, Linda Gasa, who was allegedly poisoned and then stabbed repeatedly.

Gasa was last seen in Chanthunya’s company, according to the 2012 judgment in his extradition case.  Law enforcers found her buried under the freshly cemented floor of Chanthunya’s cottage in Monkey Bay, in the Mangochi district of southern Malawi after Nyasa Times first exposed the story seven years ago.

Within days of the grisly discovery, Chanthunya fled to South Africa. He was located by Interpol in January 2012.

After the Malawian government applied for his extradition in 2012, he was found to be extraditable by the Rustenburg Magistrate’s Court.

Chanthunya challenged the ruling, arguing that capital punishment remains on the Malawian statute book.

South African law prohibits the extradition of murder suspects to countries that allow capital punishment, unless their governments give an undertaking that it will not be applied.

Malawi has not judicially executed anyone since independence in 1994 when Bakili Muluzi took over the presidency after defeating Kamuzu Banda. Other Presidents after Muluzi have not signed the death warrant.

His lawyer Donavan Sulungwe applied for bail and discharge at the High Court in Lilongwe last year July.

But High Court judge Chifundo Kachale recently dismissed the application, saying it is misguided.

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