The High Court of Malawi has barred Burundian traders and their associates from bringing shipping containers back and conducting their business at Mgona Market in Lilongwe pending the determination of a substantive case.
The ruling follows an application by businessperson Jamil Nkhata and 39 others together with Mgona Agro Dealers Association for an interlocutory injunction against Peter Kibonge Banda and other Burundians.
The applicants argued that some Burundian traders began returning to the market and resuming business operations contrary to the earlier court order that stopped them from doing business in the area.
The applicants further alleged that some traders were operating without proper documentation and had allegedly armed local people with pangas to intimidate anyone attempting to stop the return of the containers.
They also argued that the continued operations amounted to unfair competition against traders complying with Malawian laws and regulations.
In a ruling delivered on June 4 2026, High Court Judge Gloria Namonde restrained the respondents, their agents and anyone acting on their behalf from bringing any containers and conducting business at the market.
She noted that the applicants had raised serious and triable issues warranting the granting of an injunction.
Namonde further observed that allegations of operating without proper permits, intimidation of court officers and threats to public safety raised concerns that could not be ignored.
Reads the ruling in part: “The court cannot stand idly by while those who go to serve its documents are detained and threatened, while armed groups operate with impunity and while traditional authority is perverted into a tool of lawlessness.
“For all these reasons, the granting of the interlocutory injunction is not merely appropriate, it is imperative to preserve the fabric of lawful society in Malawi, even at marketplaces where people are supposed to be engaged in lawful businesses.”
But briefing the media in Lilongwe yesterday, Mgona Agro-dealers Association chairperson John Mmadi said the locals formed the association to ply business formally, three years after falling victim as their containers were confiscated together with their foreign counterparts in 2023.
However, during the briefing, a group of youths and women who are not happy with the idea of stopping the foreigners from patronising the market stormed the compound to express their anger.
According to their chairperson Rabson Chikoya, their resistance is based on the fact that most youths and women rely on piecework offered by the Burundian traders.
He said: “We are determined to oppose this move. Everytime Burundians are chased or stopped from doing business at Mgona crime rate increases because more youths resort to unlawful means out of desperation.”
Malawi Police Service in March put on public auction at least 70 shipping containers and other items seized from refugees at Mgona and other markets during a 2023 forced relocation exercise.
