Chaos, commotion in Chemusa

There was chaos in Chemusa, Blantyre, on Wednesday afternoon when the bodies of two children who died after eating poisoned nsima were taken to their home for a funeral service.

The children, Dumisani Lemani, 12, and Mtendere Lemani, 7, died on Sunday and according to family members, a post mortem conducted by forensic pathologist and clinical forensic physician Dr. Charles Dzamalala showed that they had been poisoned.

Their bodies lay in state for two days at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital as Wise Programmes for the Child, an organisation that looks into the welfare of children, suggested to the family that a post mortem be conducted by Dzamalala at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences.

The post mortem was conducted on Wednesday morning and before the funeral procession later in the afternoon, angry community members, who were told of the post mortem results, razed six houses of neighbours of the family.

At the time the angry community members went on a rampage, the suspects had fled to an unknown location. The angry community members also slashed the escapees’ maize plants and it took law enforcers from Chapima Police Unit to fire tear gas to calm the situation.

A witness who spoke to Nation on Sunday, Mathews Mwalukomo, said the community members were angered by the post mortem results.

He said: “A mob descended on their houses soon after family members informed them that the two children died of poison. This was soon after their bodies had arrived at their home where prayers were to be held.”

Mwalukomo said the situation was dire to the extent that Chief Magasa could not control the situation; hence, he opted to call the law enforcers from Chapima Police Unit.

After the situation was calm, prayers were started before the bodies were taken to Lunzu, their home village, for burial later in the day.

A day after the incident, children and other community members were seen picking up bricks and blocks from the destroyed houses.

Wise Programmes for the Child executive director Geoffrey Kanyoza said in an interview that they want justice for the two children.

“We want police to probe this matter with the urgency it deserves,” he said.

In a separate telephone interview, South West Police Region spokesperson Joseph Sauka said they are investigating the matter. However, as of Friday, he said no arrests were made concerning the riots.