Atupele’s convoy attacked in Thyolo

In a movie-like action, unknown youths believed to belong to a rival political party on Sunday stoned the convoy of UDF presidential hopeful Atupele Muluzi at Bvumbwe in Thyolo.

 

During the attacks, witnessed by The Nation crew, the main target was a Mercedes Benz registration MH 9904 which Atupele and his wife Angella rode in.

Atupele was on a whistle-stop tour from Blantyre to the border town of Limbuli in Mulanje.

Atupele’s security guards had to shield the Mercedes Benz by driving on the right hand side of the road from where the assailants had assembled some stones.

Immediately the Mercedes Benz drove past the danger zone, with no single stone hitting the vehicle, the rest of the convoy stopped to deal with the gang which continued stoning other vehicles.

As police watched, the UDF group confronted the gang and chased them.

The UDF group, led by Atupele’s security team, caught one member of the gang and as they beat him up, police intervened and rescued him.

Police picked the seriously injured man, threw him into their vehicle and sped to the hospital.

In the fracas, one of Atupele’s security men was injured when a vehicle on the convoy hit him. He was rushed back to Blantyre for medical attention.

UDF deputy publicity secretary Ken Ndanga said the party would officially lodge a complaint at Bvumbwe Police Station.

At the first stop-over at Thyolo Boma, Atupele told the gathering it is time for change, arguing there is no progress in social and economic development.

He claimed only a few people are benefiting from the economic resources of the nation.

Atupele said prices of basic needs, including maize, have dramatically gone up. He also cited lack of drugs in hospitals, the forex and fuel shortages affecting the country.

Atupele, whose father Bakili Muluzi was Malawi’s second president after the late Dr. Hastings Kamuzu Banda, said the past political leaders have let Malawi down.

Atupele, accompanied by party secretary general Kennedy Makwangwala and other key party officials, was expected to make four stop-overs for his tour.